


The Year That Never Should Have Been

by Colonel_Edd



Series: Home is where the Heart is [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Alien Tortoises, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, TYTNW, Twisting Canon around my little finger, don’t ask
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-10-21 16:34:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 77,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17646353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colonel_Edd/pseuds/Colonel_Edd
Summary: Jack has gone with the Doctor to find his answers, leaving the team behind in his lovers very capable hands. The plan was to go, get his answers and get home before dinner but Jack should have known better by now, his plans really ever work out how he wants them to. With Ianto stuck on earth missing his partner how will he cope leading a team who aren’t so keen to follow his orders?Or, how the year should have gone if I was put in charge of it.





	1. The Year One Hundred Trillion

Owen swung around in his desk chair absentmindedly as he pondered what to do next, all his autopsies were done as was his paperwork for a change and the rift was quiet as a mouse. He supposed he could get off early and spend some time with Dianne but Ianto and Tosh had been taking the evening shifts all week since Jack buggered off on his little holiday and they were starting to look a little worse for wear.

To say the team had been surprised when they returned to the hub to find Ianto waiting all alone with a grave expression would be an understatement, Gwen had cried, Tosh had grilled him for more information and Ianto, the poor sod, looked utterly wrecked though that may have something more to do with the fact he was still recovering from his gunshot wound.

“Tosh?” He stopped swirling about as he considered his words, yes, he thought to himself, he really was about to ask for this, “Do you have any reports I could help you with? I’m dying over here”

“ _You?_ ” She gave him a suspicious look, clearly waiting for the punchline, “Want to do my reports for me?”

“Well see if I offer again” he huffed, crossing his arms, “I’m just saying that I’m all caught up and you must be knackered from all the late shifts”

“Are you saying I look tired?” Tosh raised an eyebrow and if it wasn’t for the mirth on her face Owen would have been ducking for cover. 

He may not be an expert on women but even he knew that you don’t tell them they look knackered if you want to keep your head, “Look, do you want my help or not? I’m sure Gwen has some stuff I can do for her”

“Sure,” Tosh wasn’t about to refuse and she was feeling a little worn down, “Here” she grabbed a few half finished mission reports and brought them over to him and smiled, “Thank you Owen”

Returning her smile, Owen picked up his pen, “Don’t get used to it”

-

The last thing Martha Jones expected to see when she stepped off the Tardis in the year One Hundred Trillion, or whatever it is the Doctor had said, was a man laying on the ground right next to where they had landed who didn’t appear to be breathing, “Oh my God!” She immediately crouched down next to him and checked for any sign of life, “Can't get a pulse. Hold on. You've got that medical kit thing”

The Doctor watched as she ran back inside the Tardis and shook his head sadly, “Hello again.” This is exactly what he had been trying to avoid, “Oh, I'm sorry’

He turned his back when Martha returned with the medical kit and tried to prepare himself for the confrontation he knew was coming, “Here we go” she crouched back by the mans side and spoke to the Doctor over her shoulder, “It's a bit odd, though. Not very hundred trillion. That coat's more like World War Two’

“I think he came with us.” The Doctor admitted

“How do you mean,” Martha asked, “from Earth?”

“Must have been clinging to the outside of the Tardis all the way through the vortex.” The Doctor rolled his eyes, “Well, that's _very_ him”

Her stomach sinking, she asked, “What, do you know him?”

Refusing to look at Jack for all the wrongness that was pouring off him in waves, The Doctor told her the bare essentials, “Friend of mine. Used to travel with me, back in the old days”

She had always dreaded this part about being a doctor, “But he's,” she stalled, “I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat. There's nothing. He's dead” The Doctor was almost amused when Jack gasped back and scared her, not really because it was horrible that he had been dead in the first place but Martha was sort of unflappable, “Oh, so much for me. It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you”

Jack caught his breath and looked around wildly, where the hell was he? This wasn’t how the reunion was supposed to go, “Captain Jack Harkness” he introduced himself once he got his wits back, “And who are you?”

“Martha Jones”

“Nice to meet you, Martha Jones” 

The moment was broken however when the Doctor decided to intervene, “Oh, don't start”

“I was only saying hello” and he really was, the Doc would know he was in a happy, committed, very long term relationship if he had bothered to find him or even ask

Martha helped Jack to his feet, “I don't mind”

Jack spared her a quick smile before turning to the man he had been waiting for, “Doctor”

“Captain” he replied

Wait, really that was it? No hug, no apology, nothing? This man may be the Doctor, but he wasn’t his Doctor, “Good to see you” he tried again

“And you. Same as ever,” he said briskly, “Although, have you had work done?”

Momentarily gobsmacked, Jack was quick to turn the tables, “You can talk”

“Oh yes, the face. Regeneration. How did you know this was me?” The Doctor asked

Was he serious? He looked serious but maybe that was just the new face talking, “The police box kind of gives it away” he got straight to it, “I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me” 

“Did I?” The Doctor asked as if he had no idea the pain and heartbreak he had subjected Jack to over the years, “Busy life. Moving on”

Feeling petty but also wanting some answers even if they weren’t to the most pressing questions, Jack touched on what he knew must be a sensitive subject for the Time Lord, “Just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf… I saw the list of the dead. It said Rose Tyler.”

The Doctor just grinned though, obviously not a sensitive subject then, “Oh, no! Sorry, she's alive”

At least it was good news, “You're kidding?”

The Doctor crowed, “Parallel world, safe and sound. And Mickey, and her mother”

“Oh, yes!” Jack pushed aside his annoyance for a moment and pulled the Doctor in for a hug, all this time he had never known what had come of Rose Tyler, it came as a great relief to know she was safe.

-

Ianto sighed as he looked down at his dinner, rationally he knew Jack had to go with the doctor, he had known for years that the day would come where he would be left behind waiting for Jack to come back but it had been two weeks now and Jack had claimed the Doctor had a time machine, so where was he? He didn’t know how Jack hadn’t gone mad when he’d disappeared. Everyday was a battle, rats seemed to have taken up permanent residence in his stomach and he hated waking up to an empty bed in the morning.

You’ve got to understand, Ianto had barely been away from Jack in all the time he knew him and had gotten very used to him being close by at all times. Going cold turkey was not very fun.

At first he had tried to stay busy at work, he’d been putting more and more hours in until Gwen caught him asleep at his desk in the archives and put a stop to that. He needed to sleep in a proper bed and eat some real food every now and then apparently, she had extended an invitation for him to join her and Rhys for dinner at her flat, rift permitting. Jack hadn’t been wrong though, it was more volatile than ever. That was something at least, he was cleared by Owen for field duty. It as not something he thought he would ever enjoy as he’d seen enough fighting to last a life time but it was strangely exhilarating. Turns out he was a bit of an adrenalin junkie. He’d give it all up in a heartbeat though if it meant he could have Jack back. He missed him.

Spearing a potato from his plate, Ianto forced himself to eat his own terrible cooking. Dianne had been trying to teach him how to cook a Sunday roast but he was god awful at it no matter how hard he tired. It should be easy for him, he liked order and timing things to perfection but there was always something he buggered up, be it burning the meat black or over cooking the vegetables into a mushy gloop. It wasn’t clear to him anymore if he was trying to learn to better himself or if he was just too stubborn to admit he was terrible at something. Still, he thought as he washed down the over-salted food, maybe he could improve by the time Jack came back, he could surprise him with a lovely home cooked meal.

Shaking his head with a smile, Ianto asked himself what Lisa would think if she could see him now. She’d probably slap him round the back of the head with her tea towel and tell him off for wasting food like this before giving him one of her all-fixing hugs and tell him to hang on, Jack would come back for him, he always had and he always would.

-

“So there I was, stranded in the year two hundred one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me.” Jack told the story with his usual flair as he explored the planet he found himself on with the Doctor and his new companion Martha, “But I had this” he brandished his vortex manipulator with a flourish, “I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel”

“Oh, excuse me,” The Doctor scoffed, “That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper”

Martha was grinning ear to ear, obviously loving every second of this, “Oh ho. Boys and their toys”

“All right, so I bounced” Jack conceded, “I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless.”

The Doctor practically sang, “Told you so”

Really struggling not to throw a tantrum like a child and demand his answers, Jack instead focused on Martha, “I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of him that would coincide with me.”

“But that makes you more than one hundred years old” Martha clearly didn’t believe him

“And looking good, don't you think?” Jack knew he was a little vain, Ianto called him on it often enough but he didn’t care, it was all part of his charm, “So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew he’d come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this detecting you and here we are” he adjusted his backpack to try and make it more comfortable, it wasn’t exactly light

Maratha shot the Doctor a sharp look, “But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?”

Jack didn’t even bother to hide his flinch as the Doctor shrugged, “I was busy” he barely recognised the man in front of him anymore. As soon as the Doctor fixed him he was going straight home to Ianto and he’d never leave his side again. Jack hadn’t realised just how quick he’d slipped back into his old habits, he expected his lover to always be by his side and now he wasn’t it was just adding salt to his wounds.

“Is that what happens, though, seriously?” Martha demanded, “Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?”

Feeling a little bitter, Jack told her, “Not if you're blonde”

“Oh, she was blonde?” Martha threw her arms up in the air, “Oh, what a surprise!”

Seemingly at the end of his tether, the Doctor turned around to tell them off like naughty school children, “You two! We're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy blogging! Come on”

Things were a little tense after that, no one willing to break the awkward silence until they stumbled across a sophisticated cave system of sorts, “ Is that a city?” Martha asked

“A city or a hive, or a nest, or a conglomeration.” The Doctor squinted to get a better look, “Like it was grown. But look, there. That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago”

“What killed it?” Martha looked around wearily

Jack watched closely as the Doctors new face closed of slightly, “Time. Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilisations have gone. This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing.”

“They must have an atmospheric shell” Jack pointed out the obvious, “We should be frozen to death”

The Doctor looked him up and down, unimpressed, “Well, Martha and I, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack”

“What about the people? Does no one survive?” Martha continued her questions, ignorant to the thinly vailed barbs being traded right in front of her

“I suppose we have to hope life will find a way” The Doctor shrugged

“Well,” Jack nodded over in the opposite direction, “he's not doing too bad” a man, human looking but from this distance it was hard to tell, was running as if his life depended on it through the city. He was being pursued by what looked like a tribe of sorts that were shouting something unintelligible at him

“Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?” The Doctor asked as he led the charge , “Come on!” Jack barely had time to curse the uncomfortable shoes he was wearing before he was chasing after the Doctor, no way he was getting left behind again, blisters be damned

“I've got you” Jack panted as they reached the running man, he was in fact human. At least, he looked it.

“They're coming! They're coming!” The man gasped in a frenzy, pointing to the savages still running towards them. Jack pulled his gun out and pointed it at them without a second thought, he wasn’t going to kill anyone, just scare them off

“Jack, don't you dare!” The Doctor warned him

Jack fired into the air, and the tribe stopped in its tracks, “What the hell are they?” Martha asked with morbid curiosity

“There's more of them.” The man was taking in ragged breaths, “We've got to keep going”

Nodding, the Doctor tried to steer the man in the other direction, “I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's over there” however luck was not on his side as more tribesmen appeared In their way, “Or maybe not”

The man was tugging on his arm frantically now, “We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe.”

The Doctor glanced between Jack and Martha, “Silo?”

“Silo” Jack agreed

Martha nodded along, “Silo for me”

Looking back, Jack would rather have faced off against the tribespeople with his bare hands than step foot inside that miserable Silo but in that moment he simply chased after his Doctor again. He never learns, does he?


	2. The Children Dilema

Gwen limped towards her desk with a grimace, todays hunt had been a complete balls up from the beginning. Her and Owen were having something of a power struggle and as a result she had been knocked on her arse by a weevil and had twisted her ankle. Still, she figured it could have been worse, “Gwen? Are you alright?” Ianto asked with concern practically radiating off him

“I’m fine love” she tried to fob him off but she had no such luck, ever since Jack had left Ianto had turned into a bit of a mother hen. If Jack got fussed on half as much as the team had been in his stead then Gwen was going to start demanding he share Ianto a bit more often, “It’s just my ankle”

“Has Owen seen to it?” He asked sternly, as if he was any better

“He said to walk it off” she rolled her eyes, “Told me it would teach me to follow his orders in the field more often” Without another word Ianto stalked off down to the med bay and Gwen bit her lip nervously, she hadn’t meant to stir the pot but if the hissed argument was anything to go by she had done.

Owen had been minding his own business at his desk when Ianto came down on him like a mother bear, “Why haven’t you given Gwen anything for her ankle?”

“Why should I?” Owen snapped, he wasn’t about to get bossed around by their fucking admin support, “The vapid woman didn’t follow my orders in the field-”

“So you decided to stop playing doctor and let her suffer?” Ianto hissed, “I’m starting to think you’re not taking your oath seriously, first you shoot me and then you leave a teammate, a _friend_ , in pain. And neither of you should be taking point on field missions anyway. Jack left me in charge and I named Toshiko as my second” he was on a roll now, he didn’t get chance to pull rank often but it always tasted sweet when he did, “I have more experience than you in almost every conceivable situation, so when I tell you to go take care of your teammates injury you damn well do as you are told Dr Harper! You don’t like it the door is right over there” He panted a bit, having gotten more riled up than he anticipated, “Am I understood?”

Owen glared at him heatedly but nodded once stiffly before grabbing his medical bag to go see what he could do for Gwen but this was far from over.

-

Jack has been told to do a lot of weird stuff at gunpoint but a request to see his teeth? Now that one might just take the cake, “Show him your teeth” the man they had ‘rescued’ told them as they reached the silo he had told them about

Following the mans lead the Doctor, Martha and Jack all showed the guards their toothiest of grins, “Human! Let them in! Let them in!” The boss guard gestured for the metal gates to be opened for them

“Close! Close! Close!” Another one shouted as they stumbled through, shooting his machine gun at the ground in front of the tribe as they got too close

The man whom Jack considered to be the tribe leader stepped forward daringly, “Humans. Humani. Make feast” 

The guard just raised his gun though, not the least bit intimidated, “Go back to where you came from. I said, go back. Back!”

Glancing at the Doctor, Jack rolled his eyes “Oh, don't tell him to put his gun down.” Double standards much

“He's not my responsibility” The Doctor shot back

“Oh, and I am?” Jack asked sarcastically, “Huh, that makes a change.”

Ignoring the bickering going on in front of him, the tribe leader watched the guards closely, “Kind watch you. Kind hungry” but instead of trying anything the tribe simply backed away and left

“Thanks for that” The Doctor smiled at the guards brightly as if he hadn’t almost been hunted down and eaten by tribespeople

The guard either didn’t hear the thanks or ignored it, “Right. Let's get you inside”

The man who had shown them the way rushed to keep up with the guard, “My name is Padra Toc Shafe Cane. Tell me. Just tell me, can you take me to Utopia?”

The guard finally cracked a smile, “Oh yes, sir. Yes, I can.”

-

“Alien turtles” Tosh gently applied pressure to her temples as another headache threatened to take hold, “You found alien turtles?”

“Tortoises” Ianto corrected, gently taking the box off Owen who had carried it from the SUV inside, “Three of them” Owen had done a quick scan of each when they’d found them, they seemed okay.

“What’s the difference?” Owen frowned as Ianto opened the box, taking another look inside. Yup, still alien turtles

“Turtles live in water most of the time, tortoises are land creatures” Ianto barely blinked as he picked the littlest one up, “They’re still alive, they were dry when we found them and shied away from puddles surrounding them in the ally”

“How do you know the difference though?” Owen asked, “Did they even have turtles in the 40’s”

“What, you think you _invented_ them?” Ianto shot back and Tosh knew if she didn’t break this up soon she was in for a real bitch fight

“What I’m sure Owen meant was, how do you know so much about amphibians?” It was a little strange he knew so much about them to be honest, its not a topic she would think Ianto knew a lot about

“Reptiles” He corrected, “Tortoises belong to the reptile family”

“How?” Owen demanded

A little startled at his demanding tone, Ianto put the deep plum tortoise back in the box with its crimson and fuchsia friends, sheepishly admitting, “I watched a documentary last night when I went home, curious timing don’t you think?”

Silently thinking Ianto needed to get a life if his idea of fun was watching a documentary about turtles by himself, Owen huffed, “Well looks like you’ve got yourself a few pets then, I’ll run some tests on them later but they should be fine for now. Try not to kill them”

“I’d sooner kill you” Ianto deadpanned and the scary thing was that Owen couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, he supposed that was the point really.

-

Time may pass but life was just one huge wheel, it didn’t matter that they were in the year one hundred trillion, Jack had seen enough refugee camps to know one when he saw it, really humanity never changed, it evolved, spread, conquered, failed and ultimately came back to this. To just people

“It's like a refugee camp” Martha unconsciously echoed Jack’s own thoughts as she followed the young child that was helping Padra find his family

“Don't you see that? The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas, and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans.” The Doctor rambled

Creet, the young boy continued looking for Padra’s family, “Kistane Shafe Cane” he were just a child Jack thought to himself feeling a little sick that there was nothing he could do, they were younger than Steven.

“End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word. Indomitable! Ha!” The Doctor celebrated

“Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane?” Creet repeated but this time a woman stood up nervously

“That's me” She wavered on the spot as she saw Padra standing behind the child

“Mother?” Padra deflated with relief as he rushed forward to embrace her

“Oh, my God. Padra” The older woman had tears in her eyes

Martha watched the reunion with a sad smile on her lips, “It's not all bad news”

“Jack,” The Doctor called over his shoulder, “give us a hand with this. It's half deadlocked. I need you to overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are.”

Together they opened the door and Jack nearly had a heart attack when the Doc almost fell to his death inside what appeared to be a giant rocket silo, “Gotcha” he breathed a sigh of relief

The Doctor gave him his first genuine smile since they met up again, “Thanks”

Lightheaded on the sudden burst of adrenaline, Jack teased, “How did you cope without me?”

“Now that is what I call a rocket” Martha said from behind them where she was stood on her tiptoes to get a good look at it

“They're not refugees, they're passengers.” The Doctor pieced it together quickly enough

“He said they were going to Utopia” Martha added

“The perfect place. Hundred trillion years, it's the same old dream.” He turned to Jack, “You recognise those engines?”

“Nope” Jack squinted a little to get a better look, “Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though”

“Boiling” The Doctor agreed as he resealed the door, “But if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?” He fell silent as an old man came rushing up to them, he had a lie on the tip of his tongue when instead of demanding to know what they were up to, the man smiled at Jack hopefully

“The Doctor?”

Smirking, Jack was about to respond but The Doctor beet him to it, “That's me”

“Good! Good! Good. Good. Good” the man wasted no time dragging him away, “Good. Good. Good. Good. Good.”

“It's good apparently.” The Doctor smiled at Martha as she and Jack hurried after him and his friendly abductor, nobody saw the woman with pointed teeth watching them from the corner

The Doctor was taken into some sort of laboratory that looked a mess to Jack but futuristic as hell to Martha. The old man who had dragged them there was busy showing the Doctor various pieces of equipment when an alien joined them and startled Maratha, not that she let on, “Chan welcome tho”

There host didn’t seem to recognise her presence though as he just carried on babbling, “Now, this is the gravitissimal accelerator. It's past its best but it works.”

“Chan welcome tho” she repeated

“And over here is the footprint impellor system. Now, do you know anything about endtime gravity” the man was lost in his own little world however and ignored her once more

Martha mentally rolled her eyes at the Doctor who was just as bad, “Hello. Who are you?” She asked the blue insect like lady

“Chan Chantho tho” she seemed pleased to be spoken to

“But we can't get it to harmonise” the two science geeks carried on

At least until Jack introduced himself, “Captain Jack Harknes-” 

“Stop it” The Doctor gave him an unimpressed look

Jack was this close to stomping his foot like a child, “Can't I say hello to anyone?” Besides, he was perfectly content- no he was over the moon with his relationship status at the minute not that the Doc had taken a second to ask

“Chan I do not protest tho.” Chantho ducked her head

Mostly to spite the Doctor but partly because it was second nature, Jack winked, “Maybe later, Blue. So, what have we got here?”

-

Ianto still maintained that he wasn’t good with children but seeing as Steven was almost 10 he supposed he wasn’t so bad, they could have a conversation and the child was actually rather funny. Alice had invited him to join them for dinner, she claimed she wanted to get to know the man that her mothers had loved so much and when an afternoon presented itself he couldn’t on good conscious spend another evening with his alien tortoises. Instead he paid her and Steven a visit and found himself having a wonderful time.

“And then I said, But Mr Mathews that isn’t fair, Tommy was the one who snapped the ruler and Mr Mathews told me to stop being a spoilt brat” Steven paused for breath for the first time that hour before carrying on, “So I told mum and she went into school and Mr Mathews was brought in to apologise to me for being rude”

“I see,” Ianto was more than happy to sit back and listen to the child’s animated story telling, it reminded him of Jack a little, “And what does Mr Mathews teach?” He promoted, smiling all the way through the next ten minute long tirade in which Steven explained to him not only what Mr Mathews did teach but a lot of what he didn’t.

“You’re so good with him” Alice patted his arm when Steven rushed off to get his homework to impress Ianto with

Smiling genuinely, Ianto nodded, “He is a good kid, you can tell Jack spends a lot of time with him”

“I’m sure your children will be just the same,” Alice laughed not seeing the landmine she had just set off.

Ianto was frozen in his seat with a thousand thoughts racing through his head all at once. Did Jack want children? His lover knew he didn’t like kids, particularly babies, they freaked him out. Just the thought of holding one sent him spiralling into panic, what if he dropped it? Or held it wrong? Or held it wrong and then dropped it? He thought the one advantage of being gay was that he never had to worry about kids! Oh god, what if Jack came back and started asking about children? Maybe Alice had just been joking, “My children?” Ianto asked fearfully

“Yes,” Alice gave him a sort of funny look he couldn’t decipher, “You and Jack”

“Me and Jack” Ianto repeated feeling lightheaded

Alice patted him on the arm again, “Well he’s gone to get his Doctor to change him back to normal, when he comes back he’ll age like the rest of us. I just thought that you two would want a life together, marriage, kids, a house”

“We have a house” Ianto tried to push down the anxiety he felt but it wasn’t easy, “And we’ve both already been married, no need to make a fuss. It’s just a piece of paper anyway”

“Fair enough” Alice shrugged with a wide smile, “But I just know you’re kids are going to be cute as buttons. You and Jack will be a great dads, he helped out a lot with Steven when he was young.”

The way she was talking was as if it was already a done deal, had Jack spoken to her about his desire to have children? How would they even have children, its not as if one of them can get pregnant. He supposed adoption was a possibility but it still all boiled down to the fact that Ianto didn’t want to be a father. Jack was going to be crushed, he probably wouldn’t leave him over this but he’d be hurt. Could he really deny Jack something he obviously craved this much?

“Ah, Steven” Alice smiled as the boy returned clutching his homework in front of him proudly, “Why don’t you show uncle Ianto, hmm?” Ianto nodded along in all the right places but his mind was miles away trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do when Jack returned.


	3. Binding the Neutralino Map with Gluten Extract

The Doctor was slightly blown away with the professors work, it really was remarkable and that was coming from _him_ , “And all this feeds into the rocket?”

Professor Yana nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, except without a stable footprint, you see, we're unable to achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonise the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?”

Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, the Doctor sighed, “Well, er, basically, sort of, not a clue”

“Nothing?” Professor Yana visibly deflated

“I'm not from around these parts. I've never seen a system like it. Sorry.” The Doctor apologised even as his mind was whirling silently behind the scenes to think up something, _anything._

Professor Yana tried to save face but it was obvious the Doctor had been his last hope, “No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help.”

Over in the corner of the room Martha eyed Jack’s bag curiously, looking back she wished she would have left it well alone but in the moment her curiosity got the better of her and she took a look inside to see a transparent container which she quickly pulled out, “Oh, my God. You've got a _hand?_ A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in _your bag_ ”

Interest piqued the Doctor hurried over and gave Jack a betrayed look, “But that, that, that's my hand” where the hell had Jack gotten his hand from, and more importantly why was he carrying it around with him

“I said I had a Doctor detector” Jack shrugged unapologetically

Chantho asked, “Chan is this a tradition amongst your people tho?”

“Not on my street” Martha protested, “What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them.”

“Long story” The Doctor sniffed, “I lost my hand Christmas Day, in a swordfight” he hadn’t thought of the Sycorax in a long time

“What? And you grew another hand?” Martha asked sarcastically

The Doctor wiggled his fingers in her direction with a smile, “Er, yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah. Hello.”

Professor Yana was looking at him with renewed interest now, “Might I ask, what species are you?”

“Time Lord, last of” he looked around noting their unimpressed expressions, “Heard of them? Legend or anything? Not even a myth? Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling”

“Chan it is said that I am the last of my species too tho.” Chantho finally grabbed the Doctors attention

“Sorry, what was your name?”

Professor Yana hurried to introduce her, “My assistant and good friend, Chantho. A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge.”

The Doctor nodded in understanding, “The city outside, that was yours?”

“Chan the conglomeration died tho”

“Conglomeration” The Doctor cheered, “That's what I said”

Had the Doc always been this insensitive or had Jack mellowed with age, “You're supposed to say sorry”

Slightly chastised, the Time Lord offered an apology, “Oh, yes. Sorry”

Thankfully Chantho was nothing if not forgiving, “Chan most grateful tho”

“You grew another hand?” Martha asked, clearly not having moved on yet

“Hello, again” The Doctor waved his hand, “It's fine. Look, really, it's me”

Jack watched with a knowing look as Martha shook her head with an affectionate smile, “All this time and you're still full of surprises” she said and Jack felt sorry for her, he really did. He too had once been enamoured by the Doctor, he only hoped Martha would find someone who could adore her back as he had with Ianto.

“Chan you are most unusual tho” Chantho noted

The Doctor look almost proud at that, cocking his head to one side with a grin, “Well”

“So what about those things outside? The Beastie Boys” Jack got them back on topic, “What are they?” The more they knew about them the better 

“We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself, but it's feared they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia” Professor Yana told him

“And Utopia is?” the Doctor asked

Professor Yana gave him a disbelieving look as if he was waiting for the punchline, “Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?”

“Bit of a hermit”

“A hermit with friends?” Professor Yana didn’t seem to buy it and to be honest Martha couldn’t blame him, hermits indeed

“Hermits United” The Time Lord looked at his friends expectantly, as if waiting for them to confirm his lies, “We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit. So, er, Utopia?”

The Professor shrugged and gestured for them to follow him towards one of his many monitors, as he showed them a display on the gravitational field navigation system Jack couldn’t help but think that Toshiko would love to sink her teeth into these machines. He could see her in his minds eyes, pulling them apart with that adorable little frown she does when something didn’t make sense. Owen of course would be out with the people in the corridors offering medical assistance even as he blustered about pretending he didn’t care. Gwen would obviously be arguing with the Doctor, demanding the answers on his behalf that he couldn’t quite bring himself to ask for again. And Ianto? He would be right by his side, holding his hand and soothing him with comforting words. God, he couldn’t wait to get back and be with him again. They had barely been apart two hours and yet he missed him something rotten.

“The call came from across the stars, over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originating from that point” The Professor was telling the Doctor, explaining further when he clearly didn’t understand, “It's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness, out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in. The last of the humans scattered across the night”

“What do you think's out there?” The Doctor asked

“We can't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?” Professor Yana rubbed his temples as if trying to sooth a headache

“Oh, yes” The Doctor agreed, oblivious to the Professors pain, “And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there. And that's, oh, that's a navigation matrix. So you can fly without stars to guide you. Professor? Professor?” He turned around to see if he was still there, “Professor”

Snapping out of it, The professor blinked a few times to focus, “I, er, ahem, right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you.”

The Doctor eyed him wearily, “You all right?”

“Yes, I'm fine.” The Professor walked away, crossing his arms defensible, “And busy”

Letting the man distance himself, The Doctor walked a little way off from where Martha and Jack were talking with Chantho, “Except,” he mused, “that rocket isn’t going to fly, is it? The footprint mechanism thing, it's not working”

“We'll find a way” Professor Yana protested helplessly

“You're stuck on this planet. And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly”

“Well, it's better to let them live in hope”

“Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor er…” The Doctor drifted off as his mind drew up blank, “What was it? 

“Yana”

“Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost,” Pulling his sonic screwdriver out with a little flair, he pointed it at the machines, “So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?” 

Chantho grinned as power started surging through their machines, “Chan it's working tho! 

“But,” The Professor shook his head in disbelief, “But how did you do that?”

“Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you” The Doctor grinned, “I'm brilliant”

-

It wasn’t often Ianto found himself tongue tied but when he ran into Gwen and Rhys’ neighbour on his way home from dinner, he felt like a bumbling school boy. He was in a relationship with Jack, he should not be blushing at his friends handsome neighbours. Not that he found Gwen’s neighbour attractive, he wasn’t even looking. Promise.

“Oh hi, you a friend of Gwen and Rhys?” The beautiful stranger asked him with a smile, “I’m John, I live next door”

“Hi” Ianto cleared his throat when that came out about an octave too high, “Yeah, I was just round for dinner” he stared at the man, John, for a few seconds before thrusting his hand forward, “Ianto”

“Please to meet you Ianto” John smirked, shaking his hand, “I hope to see you round” and then he disappeared inside his flat leaving Ianto standing awkwardly in the hall feeling equal parts flustered and guilty. He was with Jack, he loved Jack, he shouldn’t even be thinking about anyone else.

By the next day Ianto had firmly sealed the encounter in a box marked ‘forget Immediately’ and pushed it to the very back of his mind, that’s why when Gwen came sidling up to him with a teasing grin he was genuinely confused and a little concerned, “Hello Ianto” she smiled sweetly, “Did you have a nice time last night after you left?”

Incredibly suspicious and suspecting a trap, Ianto mentally ran through the rest of his night. He’d gone home, fed the Alien Tortoises, watched a documentary about ants and gone to bed. Nothing condemning that he could think of, “Yes” he drew out the word with a frown, waiting for the other shoe to drop, “Did you?” It was possible he was over thinking this

“Oh yes” Gwen nodded, still smiling. If he was being honest it was starting to creep Ianto out a little, “And I ran into my neighbour this morning too”

“I see” no, he really didn’t

Gwen’s smile widened, as did her eyes, “John was asking a lot of questions about you, you never told me you met him”

“Gwen, you’ve been here half an hour. We’ve been working. I can give you a comprehensive list of everyone I have seen and/or spoken to in the last 24 hours later if you’re still interested” Ianto looked around fruitlessly for an excuse to escape, “I’ve got some filing actually so-”

“He wanted to know if you were single, said you were charming” the smile gone, Gwen was watching him closely for any tells, “I told him I wasn’t sure”

Scowling, Ianto asked, “And why would you do that?” He was clearly with Jack, she had seen them together

“Oh, I don’t know” Gwen continued to watch him

Crossing his arms with a huff, Ianto spelled it out for her, “I’m with Jack, I’m not interested in anyone else” there, done and dusted, he couldn’t help feeling a little proud of himself actually, he never would have been able to say that last year. Was it bad he felt like giving himself a pat on the back?

Gwen seemed happy with his response too if the returning smile was anything to go by, “Good, I was just checking. Jack is a great friend, I would hate for him to come back and be hurt”

“I would never hurt Jackson” Ianto told her, offended, “I’d take a bullet for him, I have in fact”

“Good” Gwen repeated herself, she had never gotten the chance to give him the shovel talk as by the time he arrived there was already so much history between him and Jack but really she just didn’t want her friend hurt. She didn’t want either of them hurt, “I’ll let you get on with that filing then, Rhys is cooking his famous lasagne tomorrow, you’re welcome to join us”

“Yeah” Ianto watched her go with a little smile, it had taken time but he was starting to see what Jack saw in Gwen, she was protective and passionate. She just needed to work on fixating on the right things.

-

All passengers were preparing for immediate boarding, the Doctor had sent Martha and Chantho to go help round everybody up and get them onboard the ship while he and Jack continued to work with the Professor in the lab, “Excuse me” Martha stopped the young child who had helped Padra find his family when they had arrived, “Hey, what was your name? Creet?”

“That's right, miss” Creet smiled

Martha looked around for the boys family, surely he couldn’t be all alone, “Who are you with, Creet? You got family?”

“No, miss. There's just me”

Not sure what else to say, Martha just continued to smile, this time a little sadly, “Well, good luck. What do you think it's going to be like in Utopia?”

“My mum used to say the skies are made of diamonds.”

Ruffling the boys long hair, Martha nodded towards the rocket, “Good for her. Go on, off you go. Get your seat” Her and Chantho both unaware of the tribe woman watching them leave

Back in Professor Yana's laboratory the Doctor was sniffing one of the many wires scattered around the place, “Is this-?” He never finished his thought though as the Professor interrupted

“Yes, gluten extract. Binds the neutralino map together.”

The Doctor was genuinely impressed, “That's food” he looked around with a new appreciation of the Professors work, “ You've built this system out of food and string and staples? Professor Yana, you're a genius”

“Says the man who made it work” He protested

Not having it, The Doctor argued, “Oh, it's easy coming in at the end, but you're stellar. This is, this is magnificent. And I don't often say that because, well, because of me.”

“Well, even my title is an affectation” The Professor admitted, “There hasn't been such a thing as a university for over a thousand years. I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another”

Watching the professor with nothing short of admiration, the Doctor was this close to snatching him away as a companion, “If you'd been born in a different time, you'd be revered. I mean it. Throughout the galaxies.” He was brilliant, magnificent, he had a mind so prepossessing The Doctor was almost jealous

“Oh, those damned galaxies. They had to go and collapse” the professor smiled, “Some admiration would have been nice. Yes, just a little, just once.”

“Well, you've got it now. But that footprint engine thing” The Doctor figured it all out, “You can't activate it from onboard. It's got to be from here. You're staying behind”

“With Chantho” Professor Yana shook his head sadly, “She won't leave without me. Simply refuses”

Beautiful mind and a beautiful heart, the doctor thought to himself, Professor Yana truly was one in a million, he was the reason he still traveled, to meet people like him, “You'd give your life so they could fly”

“Oh, I think I'm a little too old for Utopia.” Professor Yana tried to put him at ease, “Time I had some sleep”

A voice buzzed through the intercom system, interruptinnghte two scientists, “Professor, tell the Doctor we've found his blue box.”

“Ah!” The Doctor shouted, his grin practically splitting his face in two, everything was falling into place

Startled by the noise, Jack looked over from where he was tinkering with his own coil of wires, “Doctor?” What has he missed this time?

“Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out.” The Doctor span around gleefully at the sight of his Tardis in the screen. He was going to show the professor the universe.


	4. Ridiculous Man

Toshiko struggled to smother her giggles as she watched Ianto, possibly the primmest, most proper man she had ever had the good fortune of meeting, baby talk his alien tortoises. She had come over on their joint night off to keep him company since Jack left expecting to maybe watch a film and order a take away, she wasn’t prepared to watch him coo at his hot pink pets whilst thinking he was unobserved, “Here you go guys, some nice fresh lettuce, yum yum” he reached inside their clearly expensive tank and practically hand fed the damn things. She hadn’t pegged him as a pet lover, seems like she was wrong

“Hey” Toshiko made her presence known as she reentered the room, “What’re you doing?”

“Just feeding them” Ianto straightened up immediately, his posture stiff even as the bags under his eyes told her that he was exhausted, “Owen suggested a lighter diet for them after Donnashello was sick last week”

“Donnashello?” Tosh couldn’t contain her laughter this time as she clutched her side, “You gave him a pun name?”

Ianto looked a little embarrassed as he shrugged, “What else was I supposed to call them? Besides,” he reached back into the tank and stroked one of their little heads, “I think Jackson will get a kick out of it when he comes home”

When, not if, Tosh noted, Ianto still fully believed Jack was coming back even as they were reaching the two month mark, “Well, aren’t you going to introduce me? I only met them briefly after all”

“Of course” Ianto said seriously, “Where are my manners? Toshiko this is Donnashello, Aristurtle and Voldetort” he told her, pointing first the fuchsia tortoise, followed by the plum and finally crimson, “Tortoises, this is Toshiko”

Slightly taken aback by Ianto’s words, Tosh wasn’t sure where to start, “Voldetort?”

“Like Voldemort,” Ianto supplied helpfully, “From the Harry Potter books, Jack… um, gave them high praise” while he may be slightly more open about his relationship status now, Ianto wasn’t sure he wanted to share intimate details, even with a close friend such as Toshiko. If Jack had spent many a night calming him down from nightmares and helping him get back to sleep by reading those books then that was something Ianto wished to keep between themselves.

“And I assume Aristurtle is a play on words of Aristotle?” Toshiko double checked

“The Greek scientist and philosopher, yes” Ianto nodded, “I recently watched a doc-”

“Documentary about him” Tosh finished, “Do you ever watch anything else?”

Rolling his eyes, Ianto closed the door to the tortoise tank and took on the roll of ‘old man Jones’ as Owen liked to call him, “Back in my day we didn’t have any of this, if I wanted to know something I would have to look it up in an encyclopaedia from the library. You don’t know how lucky you are to have all this information right at your finger tips” he ranted, “And don’t get me started on the television, everything looks so life like, as if I’m there with them. Documentaries are not only entertaining and educational but also relatively easy to access”

“Okay” Toshiko held her hands up in surrender, “Documentaries are great” who was she to argue really?

-

After the Doctor had set Jack and Martha to work with Chantho, he rounded on the Professor who was clutching his head in pain, “You don't have to keep working. We can handle it.” He didn’t want the old man keeling over

“It's just a headache” He waved his concern away, or at least he tried, “It's just, just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head.”

The Doctor frowned and stopped fiddling with the tech for a minute, “What sort of noise?”

“It's the sound of drums” The Professor rubbed his temples, “More and more, as though it's getting closer”

Curious, “When did it start?” He asked, maybe he could help

But the Professor was turning his back now, not wanting to talk about it, “I’m sure its nothing” though once he was pinned down by the Doctors intense stare he caved, “Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour. Still, no rest for the wicked” he carried on before the Doctor could force him to take a break, “I’ve got men working downstairs fixing the couplings so the footprint can work, I need to monitor them, the system needs constant rebooting”

The Doctor followed like a puppy after the Professor, slipping his glasses on casually as he squinted at the pixelated image on the screen, “Where is that room?”

“It's underneath the rocket.” Yana blinked rapidly as if to clear his vision, “Um, Fix the couplings and- and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation”

Jack, who had been listening with interest, interrupted, “Stet? Never heard of it”

“You wouldn't want to” Yana warned, “But it's safe enough, if we can hold the radiation back from here. Keep an eye on that dial would you Captain?” They were watching the monitor showing a man connecting up equipment when the alarms sounded, “It's rising. Naught point two. Keep it level!”

“Yes, sir” huh, that was strange, Jack couldn’t remember the last time he had called someone ‘sir’ maybe he could try it out with Ianto when he got back home. 

Meanwhile, downstairs the tribal woman was ripping wires out of their sockets in order to sabotage the rocket, “Chan we're losing power tho!”

The woman continued to destroy as much equipment as she could before she got caught, smashing control panels left right and centre, “Radiation's rising!” The Doctor cried helplessly, “We've lost control” 

Yana turned back to the monitor showing his man inside the chamber, “The chamber's going to flood”

“Jack,” The Doctor ordered, “override the vents!”

Inside the radiation chamber the man was ignoring his fiends pleas to abandon his post, he was almost finished, just a few couplings to go. This was a sacrifice he was willing to make, his life for everyone else in the Silo. 

All the while this was happening the tribes woman had been cornered by the guards, held at gunpoint. Her last thought as she too closed her eyes, that this was a sacrifice she was willing to make, her life for the survival of her people.

Back in the lab, Jack pulled out two power cables. This should work, he thought to himself, he just needed to connect the power and he could save that man down in the chamber. He himself had never died from radiation but he doubts it would be pleasant, “We can jump start the override”

“Don't!” The Doctor tried to warn him, “It's going to flare!” But he was too late, Jack was already holding the live ends together as the power surged through, electrocuting him. The Doctor looked away feeling sick as Martha rushed towards the body

“I've got him” Martha felt for a pulse but there wasn’t one

Chantho was close behind her, “Chan don't touch the cables tho” she kicked it away just to be safe

Yana couldn’t look at the Captains body, this was all his fault. An innocent man had died for his cause and now it had all been for nothing, “Oh, I'm so sorry”

“The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?” The Professor gave the Doctor a shocked look when he asked that, finding it strange that he cared more about the radiation than his dead friend

“Without the couplings, the engines will never start” Professor Yana glanced at Martha as she tried to give the Captain mouth to mouth resuscitation, “It was all for nothing”

The Doctor cocked his head to one side and walked over to Martha, “Oh, I don't know.” He pulled her away, “Martha, leave him”

But his companion struggled against him, not willing to give up, “You've got to let me try”

“Come on, come on, just listen to me. Now leave him alone” The Doctor pulled her away from Jack, “It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?” He asked

“Yes” The Professor frowned at him, not seeing where this was going

“Well” The doctor smiled as Jack gasped back to life, “I think I've got just the man”

Wracked with pain and panting like he’d run a marthaon, Jack looked around frantically for Ianto who of course wasn’t there. He was back on earth waiting for him, “Was someone kissing me?” He asked once he’d gotten his breath back, Ianto was going to be pissed.

-

It was official, Dianne thought to herself, she was fat.

She had never been one to worry constantly about her appearance but she had taken pride in the way she had looked before the baby decided to transform her figure into this. Wide hips, swollen feet and a belly so large she couldn’t see the ground beneath her anymore. 

She grunted as she tried to reach her foot again, the bleeding slipper was almost on but it needed a little nudge to get it there, “Dianne?” Owen called out as he burst through the door just in time to watch the slipper fall to the ground. Great, she was back to square one, “You sounded panicked on the phone, is everything alright? Is it the baby?” Owen was in full panic mode, hands fluttering from her face and back down again to the baby in a loop

Dianne grunted as she shifted closer to the edge of the bed and leaned over, or rather rolled sideways like the boulder she was, “I’m stuck in this damn bed of yours!” If she wasn’t so embarrassed she’d be shouting at him, “Honestly every time I go to sit up it sucks me back in”

“I’m sorry” Owen was being completely serious, not finding the situation funny at all as she had feared he would, “Here, let me help” he pulled her up gently and settled her against the pillows, “Are you okay?”

“Help me up so I can go to the toilet” She extended a hand to the lovely patient man who had been nothing short of a saint throughout her pregnancy, “Please” she drew the line at him leavering her down onto the toilet though.

Once she had finished her business she stood and sighed as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Fat. How could Owen bare to look at her? It wasn’t even his child she was carrying and yet he was acting every part the supportive husband that she never knew she wanted.

She shook her head and let her hands slide over her now fat stomach, Owen kept telling her it was lovely and it wasn't as big as she kept saying it was. He had even told her that he loved her but as the days went by as she kept getting bigger, Dianne was finding it hard to believe, “Is everything alright in there?” Owen asked gently as he tapped on the still closed door, “Dianne?”

“Everything’s fine Owen” she reached up to brush her hair from her eyes, surprised when they came away wet. She really wasn’t a fan of the constant mood swings. Only two months to go, she kept telling herself, only two more months

Splashing some water on her face, Dianne opened the door and allowed Owen to fuss over her for a while, “Owen? Aren’t you needed back at work?” She asked after a few minutes of fussing

Smiling sheepishly, Owen shook his head, “The team can handle it, Ianto practically kicked me out of the door. Said if I didn’t spend some quality time with you and the bub sooner or later that he was going to have to” turning his attention to the new stretch marks littering her stomach, he frowned, “And I’d have to shoot him again if he dared so its probably for the best I came anyway”

“You’re a ridiculous man” Dianne sniffed

“Yeah?” Owen seemed overjoyed by this, “Your ridiculous man though, eh?”


	5. Teary Confessions

Jack wasn’t sure what The Doctors plan was exactly, well that wasn’t true, he had an idea of what the Time Lord had planned but if he was being honest he wasn’t too excited about the prospect. Still, if walking into a room full of radiation to activate some couplings would save an entire silo of people then he didn’t really have a choice now did he? One of his many lives for all of theirs, it wasn’t even a question.

_Ianto would have argued to find another way_ , a traitorous voice whispered in the back of his mind but Jack pushed the thought away as The Doctor dismissed the young man still fiddling with the dials in the control room, “Lieutenant, get on board the rocket! I promise you're going to fly” at least one of them was feeling confident about this

“The chamber's flooded.” The man started to argue

“Trust me” The Doctor lied, “We've found a way of tripping the system. Run!”

Jack tried not to feel cheated when the Doc gave him an expectant look, right, time to jump in a pool of radiation then. He supposed it was too late to actually find a way of tripping the system, “Hang on” he paused outside the door and started pulling his shirt off while The Doctor watched him looking very confused

“What are you taking your clothes off for?” He asked

“I'm going in” he kicked off his shoes and decided to keep the braces on over his undershirt, he wasn’t overly fond of them anyway

Looking at Jack like he was insane, The Doctor pointed out, “Well, by the looks of it, I'd say the stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh”

Nice to know the Doc cared about his flesh, Jack thought to himself as he kicked his shoes to one side. Ianto would never forgive him if he brought home his best shoes and favourite shirt drenched in some sort of alien radiation. Not that he told The Doctor this, he didn’t want to get into that right now while he had work to do, “Well,” he said instead, “I look good though” heart pounding, Jack looked over his shoulder before he opened the door, “How long have you known?” He had to know before he went in there

“Ever since I ran away from you” The Doctor had the decency to look a little ashamed, “Good luck” Yeah, luck, that’s what he needed right now, not a radiation suit. Nonetheless Jack took a deep breath and climbed into the radiation chamber to continue connecting things up.

Meanwhile in Yana's laboratory Martha was rebooting the monitor as per the professors instruction, they needed to keep in constant contact in order to relay the results incase anything went wappy, or at least that’s what she understood from The Doctors technobabble with Yana, “We lost picture when that thing flared up. Doctor, are you there? 

The Doctor’s voice filtered back loud and clear, _“Receiving, yeah. He's inside.”_

“And still alive?” She checked

_“Oh, yes”_

The Professor was shaking his head in disbelief, “But he should evaporate” none of this made any sense, “What sort of a man is he?”

“I've only just met him.” Martha admitted, “The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up. God, I make us sound like stray dogs. Maybe we are.”

Yana clutched his head with another wince behind Martha’s back, “He travels in time?” He asked as her words rattled around his head like whispers on frosted glass

Martha almost laughed at that, “Don't ask me to explain it.” She barely understood it herself, “That's a Tardis, that box thing. The sports car of time travel, he says” if she would have turned around she would have seen the Professor clutching his head in pain as the whispers got louder

-

“JACKSON!” Ianto screamed himself awake, arms floundering for purchase but instead of finding the warm body of his concerned lover his grasping hands were met with sweat soaked sheets and the cold side of the bed which was just plain wrong. Gasping, Ianto tried to even his breathing but he couldn’t seem to calm down and of course the more he failed to calm down the more worked up he got about it. He was fucking useless, real men don’t freak out this much over a stupid nightmare. He hid his face in his hands and groaned to himself, he wanted Jack.

Jack could silence the dark thoughts better than he ever could.

Ianto knew he wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep that night and started untangling himself from his prison of sheets woven around his legs. Without really thinking about it he pulled on some of Jack’s clothes that had long since lost the smell of his lover and headed towards the hub feeling a smidge of comfort in the slightly oversized shirt hanging off his frame. He supposed it only made sense that he would seek out things that remind him of Jack when he was looking for comfort, it was the next best thing after all, the hub was very much a part of Jack and vice versa.

What he didn’t expect to find when he stepped inside his sanctuary was a distressed Gwen Cooper sat on the age old sofa with drying tear tracks running down her face, “Gwen?!” He was snapped back into reality, his own struggles forgotten for the moment as he had someone else to focus on, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Ianto!” She seemed just as surprised as he was at the unexpected company, “I’m fine” she rubbed at her eyes desperately to try and hide the fact that she had obviously been crying, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing” Ianto shot back, comforting people wasn’t something he was very good at but he would give it a go, Gwen had grown on him a lot lately. Seeing her like this was envoking almost a physical pain in his chest. Sitting down next to her gently, he place a hand on her shoulder, “Whatever it is… I hope you know that you can talk to me Gwen”

“I know that” she sniffed

Struggling for words, Ianto took a moment to think about what he wanted to say, “I know we didn’t really get off on the right foot… we haven’t much in common but I do care about you, we’re friends. Right?”

“Of course” Gwen finally cracked a small smile as she rested her head on his shoulder, “I’m glad you’re here”

“Me too” he gave her a gentle squeeze, “Can I get you anything to drink? Hot chocolate?” Ianto kicked himself as he looked down to see fresh tears pooling in Gwen’s eyes, “Gwen?” Bloody hell, what had he done this time?

“I’m sorry love” she wiped her eyes again, “I just had a silly argument with Rhys, he usually makes me hot chocolate when we make up”

Concerned, Ianto didn’t know if it was his place to ask but he did anyway “What happened?”

Gwen closed her eyes with a sigh, “He was going to propose tonight” she whispered feeling like the worst person on earth, “But I started an argument to put him off for a while”

“Do you not want to marry Rhys?” Ianto asked, “Which is fine by the way, marriage isn’t for everyone, I understand-”

Gwen pulled away a little so she could look Ianto in the eye, almost afraid as she asked the question burning away in the back of her mind, “What is it like? Being married, lifelong commitment?” She bit her lip, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that… but you’re the only person…”

“No, its fine” Ianto forced a smile, “Though you are aware that my marriage was one of convenience? Elisabeth- Lisa and I were friends, nothing more”

“I-“ Gwen coughed awkwardly, “I meant with _Jack_ ”

Flushing, Ianto clenched his jaw and looked away, “I’m not married to Jack” he didn’t expect that to hurt as much as it did, but the loneliness and hurt had been creeping in for quite some time while he was away, how had Jack managed so long without him?

“Maybe not technically” Gwen tread carefully, “But you’ve been together for years, It’s clear he loves the bones of you. When you arrived it’s like you woke him up, he’s so different when he’s around you” in for a penny in for a pound, she thought, “He’s lighter with you”

Hit with a wave of intense sadness, Ianto struggled to keep his composure, “That is very kind of you to say” he cleared his throat pointedly, “And to answer your question, being married won’t change anything, not really. He’s still going to forget to put the toilet seat up and you’re still going to leave your keys in ridiculous place… but there’s just a feeling,” Ianto thought back to when Jack said his vows to Emily, how he’d looked him dead in the eye as he’d pledged his love and commitment to him instead of his bride. If he wasn’t already welling up that memory ensured it, “At the end of the day it’s a celebration of love, Gwen, but not everyone wants that and it’s fine if you don’t”

“It’s not that I don’t want to marry him,” Gwen made herself clear, “I love Rhys, I want a life with him”

“But?”

“I don’t want anything to be differnt, things are really good right now” Gwen sighed “I was scared thing’s were going to change”

Confident in what he was saying, Ianto told her, “Nothing will change unless you let it” attempting to lighten the mood he added, “If you want to marry Rhys let the damn man propose”

“Thanks Ianto” she chuckled weakly, “You’re a great friend”

“Don’t mention it” Ianto told her, “No, seriously don’t. Owen would have a field day if he found us both here in tears, don’t you think?”

“You’re right” Gwen nodded, pulling herself together, “You always know just the right thing to say”

Cocking his head to one side, Ianto smiled genuinely this time “I try my best”


	6. Marry Shag Kill

The Doctor watched from behind the door as Jack got to work, as much as it made him sick to look at the man, a small part of the Time Lord was pleased to see him again. Jack had been one in a million, he had seen him grow from a con artist to the man stood before him, putting himself in the firing line to save innocent people whom he had never even met. If forced to admit it, The Doctor would say he was proud of him, “When did you first realise?” He asked, watching as Jack got on with it

“Earth, 1892” Jack winced, “Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin” best not to mention Abaddon the great devourer right now, “In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die and all that time you knew”

Not even trying to deny it, The Doctor told him without a hint of apology, “That's why I left you behind. It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong”

Crushed, Jack pushed the hurt aside and decided to deal with it later, “Thanks”

“You are! I can't help it” The Doctor glanced away, “I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen” peeking back over he tried to look at Jack and feel the warm comfort of his friend but instead his stomach flipped and nausea rolled over him, “Even the Tardis reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you”

Trying to play it off, Jack asked, “So what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced? 

“I never thought of it like that” The Doctor smiled as Jack joked with him, not seeing the hurt behind his eyes

“Shame on you” Jack was only half joking, “Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life…What happened?”

The Doctor forced out one word, just one word that flipped Jack’s world on its head, “Rose”

In the laboratory Yana was crying to himself as he listened to them through the monitor, “I thought you'd sent her back home” Jack was talking

“She came back. Opened the heart of the Tardis and absorbed the time vortex itself.” Yana flinched as The Doctor explained, “No one's ever meant to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But she was human.” His words were echoing around the professors head, bouncing around painfully in time with the drums, the never ending drums, “Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life”

Jack wiped the sweat from his brow as he struggled with the coupling, “Do you think she could change me back?” He wanted to be mortal, he wanted to grow old with the man he loved, grey hair, winkles, aching bones and anything else time wanted to throw at him. He’d embrace it all without batting an eye as long as he had Ianto by his side.

“I took the power out of her” The Doc told him, “She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed”

Devastated, Jack shook his head, “I’m sorry” So he really was stuck like this? Forever trapped, forever living? There was really nothing The Doctor could do for him? There had to be something

“Yeah” The Doctor said sadly

Unlike The Doc, Jack could tell when his friend was in pain and tried to uplift his spirits, “I went back to her estate, in the nineties, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello.” He grunted as he struggled to activate the coupling, “Timelines and all that.”

Leaning closer to the little window in the door, The Doctor stared at Jack, “Do you want to die?”

“Oh, this one's a little stuck” Jack grunted again, ignoring him

“Jack?” He pressed, not taking no for an answer

“I thought I did, for a long time” Jack admitted, “I was so alone, I lost so many people”

“I know” The Doctor watched him closely, waiting

Thinking of Ianto, Jack found it in him to actually smile,“But then someone came back to me, someone I thought I’d lost forever and… it’s _fantastic_ , he’s fantastic” finding him, loosing him again, getting him back and leaving. Ianto and he didn’t have the most conventional relationship but he would change it for the world, “And everyone out there? Seeing them all surviving out here, it’s something else”

“You might be out there, somewhere” The Doctor tilted his head to one side

Laughing, Jack shook his head, “I could go meet myself!” Maybe bring himself back with them to surprise the team, tell them it was a clone just to see the look on Owens face

“Well, you’re the only man you're ever going to be happy with” The Doctor shot back, expecting Jack to agree but instead the immortal’s eyes seemed to grow distant as if he was thinking hard about something, “Jack?”

“Remind me when we get back to introduce you to someone” Jack connected the coupling and moved onto the next one, “I’ve told him all about you”

“A friend?” The Doctor didn’t know why he asked but he did

Smirking, Jack glanced up from the coupling he was working on, “Sort of, Ianto is…” he couldn’t think of the right words, “He’s just different, special”

Not understanding what he meant, The Doctor asked, “How?”

“Ianto makes me better,” Jack suddenly had the exact right words, “He’s my Rose Doc” and the Time Lord understood perfectly after that

“Well in that case maybe I should meet him,” he smiled teasingly, “Give him a warning or two as to what he’s getting into with you”

Laughing, Jack pulled hard on the stiff coupling that just wasn’t budging, “This new regeneration, it's kind of cheeky”

-

Owen was board stiff, he had a pile of paperwork taller than him waiting on his desk but he couldn’t seem to find it in himself to crawl off the age old sofa and actually do anything about it, “Oi, Tosh!” He called out instead, smiling as the computer genius turned to look at him with less suspicion as she would have done two months ago, “Where’re the others?”

“Ianto went to grab us lunch and Gwen is in later, it’s her afternoon off” Tosh rolled her eyes, “you’d know if you bothered to check the rota”

Grinning cheekily, Owen raised an eyebrow, “Why would I bother with that when I can just ask you?”

“Don’t you have work to be doing?” Tosh asked him, pointedly looking over at his desk which was barely visible under his awaiting reports

“We should play a game” Owen said instead, “Marry, Shag, Kill the rest of the team. Go”

“What? No” he managed to get a laugh out of Tosh then as she shook her head, “You must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel if that’s all you have left to put off your work”

“What can I say, procrastination is an art form” he shrugged, “Besides, Gwen asked me the other day”

Finally hooked, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, “And what were your answers?”

“Ah ah, you first” He stuck his tongue out when she scowled at him, “Come on Tosh, it’s just a game”

“Fine,” Toshiko rolled her eyes, the sooner she indulged him the sooner he’d get on with his work, “I would… kill Jack because he can come back, um, Marry Gwen because I don’t think Jack would be happy if I took Ianto from him-”

“And he wont mind you shagging him?” Owen snorted

“He could join in if he wanted” Tosh shrugged, blushing but proud as it shut Owen up who was now gawking at her like a goldfish, “What were you’re answers then?”

A little grumpy, Owen admitted, “Kill Jack, Marry you and Shag Ianto”

“Who’s killing Jack?” Ianto popped up out of nowhere with a frown, scaring Owen shitless not that he admitted so

Hand still clutching his chest, Owen groused, “Bloody hell! Where the fuck did you come from? Tosh said you were getting us lunch”

“I ordered in, I was in the archives” Ianto looked back and forth between Owen and Tosh, not sure if he even wanted to know what he had interrupted, “I’m just on my way up to the tourist office now to pick it up”

“Right” Owen nodded, a little embarrassed that Ianto might have just heard that he’d shag him, “Go on then”

“Alright” Ianto drew the word out, clearly suspicious as he glanced over his shoulder every now and then on his walk to the cog door

As soon as the door shut behind him, Tosh gave Owen an unimpressed look, “Really?”

“What?!” Owen asked defensively

Toshiko turned back to her work, “Nothing”

“Yeah, nothing” he huffed, “I’ve got reports to do Tosh, stop distracting me”

-

In the laboratory Martha was rolling her eyes at the nonsense Jack and the Doctor were talking that filtered through the monitor, “I never understand half the things he says” She turned to Chantho when she didn’t say anything and instead found the Professor wiping tears, “What's wrong?”

“Chan Professor, what is it tho?” Chantho rushed to his side but the Professor waved her away

Yana cleared his throat and shook his head, “Time travel. They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? Stupid old man” Martha looked down and saw he was fiddling with a watch, “Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked” Eyes widening slightly, Martha forced herself to look away from the fob watch, it couldn’t be… could it? But what if it was, “Time and time and time again. Always running out on me”

Trying for casual, Martha asked, “Can I have a look at that?”

If the Professors expression was anything to go by, she hadn’t quite managed it, “Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me.”

“Where did you get it?” She asked instead

“Hmm?” The professor seemed to have something else on his mind as he answered vaguely, “I was found with it”

“What do you mean?” Martha asked gently

Yana frowned as if confused as he spoke, as if he were questioning his own memories, “An orphan in the storm. I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned, with only this.”

“Have you opened it?”

The Professor looked at her as if she were a simpleton, “Why would I? It's broken.”

“How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?” Martha pressed as the Professor handed it over reluctantly

“It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know.” Martha turned the watch over and recognised the inscriptions as matching ones to The Doctors, “Does it matter?”

“No. It's nothing.” She lied, handing it back to him. This was serious, “It's… listen, everything's fine up here. I'm going to see if the Doctor needs me” he was not going to believe this

In the radiation chamber the final connection was made and the Doctor hurried Jack out of the room, he wasn’t sure if Jack was radio active now or what but figured they could deal with it once they were back onboard the Tardis. For now though he had a call to make, “Lieutenant, everyone on board?”

_“Ready and waiting”_

The Doctor nodded even though the Lieutenant couldn’t see him, “Stand by. Two minutes to ignition”

_“Ready to launch. Outer doors sealed”_

The computer pinged, “Countdown commencing. T minus ninety nine, ninety eight” Jack and the Doctor were rushing around, flicking switches when Martha entered gasping for breath as if she had run the entire way from the Lab

“Ah, Martha!” He grinned, “Nearly there now. The footprint, it's a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It'll take the both of us to keep it stable”

“Doctor,” Martha panted, gulping down air greedily, “it's the Professor. He's got this watch. He's got a fob watch. It's the same as yours. Same writing on it, same everything.”

The Doctor froze, not believing her, “Don't be ridiculous”

“I asked him.” She insisted, “He said he's had it his whole life.”

“So he's got the same watch” Jack shrugged, being out of the loop

Martha gave him a surprised look as it dawned on her that he had no idea what they were talking about, “Yeah, but it's not a watch. It's this chameleon thing.”

“No, no, no, it's this, this thing, this device, it rewrites biology” The Doctor continued flicking switches, “Changes a Time Lord into a human”

“And it's the same watch” she repeated herself

“It can't be” The Doctor snapped as an alarm sounded from behind him

Quick on the uptake, Jack looked at the Doc with wide eyes, :That means he could be a Time Lord. You might not be the last one”

All over the place, The Doctor shouted at Jack, “Jack, keep it level!”

“But that's brilliant, isn't it?” Martha demanded, not afraid of being shouted at

Running his hands though his hair frantically, The Doctor nodded, “Yes, it is. Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah” he changed to shaking his head instead, “But they died, the Time Lords. All of them. They died” he killed them

“Not if he was human” Jack pointed out

“What did he say, Martha?” The Doctor needed the exact words, how could he have missed this. He’d been in the same room as the man and he’d had no clue, “What did he say?” 

“He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it. Like that perception filter thing” She told him

“What about now?” The Doctor demanded as he thought of all the people it could be, of all the people it couldn’t be, “Can he see it now?”

In the laboratory Yana was looking at the watch as it seemed to whisper to him along with the words echoing around his head, _“The drums, the drums, the drums, the never ending drumbeat. Open me, you human fool. Open the light and summon me and receive my majesty”_


	7. Toshiko’s Date

_‘Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine’_ The computer droned in the background as The Doctor tried to process what was going on around him, the idea that another of his kind had survived something he had never dared dream of. It was his fault after all, he had killed them all... except maybe he hadn’t, “If he escaped the Time War then it's the perfect place to hide. The end of the universe” Jack snapped him out of his thoughts. 

Looking around The Doctor realised he still had a rocket to help launch, save human kind first, regretful thoughts of committing genocide later.

_‘Six, five’_ The computer continued as Martha tried to grab his attention, “Think of what the Face of Boe said. His dying words. He said-” 

_‘One’_ The Doctor turned the last switch as the computer finished its countdown and the rocket engines fired up. They had done it, they had launched the rocket and saved everyone, “Lieutenant,” The Doctor needed confirmation, “have you done it? Did you get velocity, have you done it?” No reply, “Lieutenant, have you done it?”

“Affirmative” They all breathed a sigh of relief as the lieutenant’s voice crackled over the radio, “We'll see you in Utopia”

Grinning, The Doctor wished him the best, “Good luck” right, time to go find out who exactly the Professor was.

-

Gwen wasn’t going to say anything, really she wasn’t but when Owen and Ianto both failed to notice she mostly just wanted to confirm she wasn’t seeing things, never could be too careful with this job, “Tosh? You look nice, very dolled up” smiling at her friend she tried not to come across as judgemental, her girlfriends often told her she could do that without always meaning to, “Got a hot date?”

That sure had the boys heads whipping in their direction, “Toshiko has a date?” Owen blurted while Ianto just gave her a double take, eyes slowly racing over her but in a purely platonic way, as if he were trying to discern anything different about her that would warrant Gwen’s questioning.

“Um… maybe” Tosh tucked her hair behind her ear shyly, “I wouldn’t call it a _date_ …”

Glad she hadn’t read the situation wrong and upset her friend, Gwen repressed the urge to squeal in excitement, “Who is he?”

“No one” but the blush Ianto saw spreading across her cheeks told him otherwise, “And it’s not a he” she added nervously, not sure how the others were going to react to the news.

“Oh!” Gwen’s eyes widened almost comically as she tried to backtrack, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, uh, that’s great though! I mean it’s the same, but obviously different, no! Not _different_ , um good?”

“I’ll fetch the ladder shall I?” Ianto asked dryly

“The ladder?” Gwen asked with confusion, what did ladders have to do with Toshiko dating a woman?

“To help you climb out of the hole your digging yourself” Ianto’s lips quirked upwards as he walked over to Toshiko, Owen’s laughter echoing behind him, “I hope you have a nice time tonight, I’d say don’t do anything I wouldn’t but…” he winked, patted her on the arm, and walked off to carry on with his work

“Dammit” Gwen grumbled as she pouted at Ianto’s back, “How does he do that? He always knows exactly what to say”

“Because he’s Ianto” Owen rolled his eyes, “That’s like his… superpower or something” he suddenly looked at at Tosh as if he forgot what they were even talking about, “Oh, and yeah have a nice time tonight”

“Thank you Owen” Tosh smiled, genuinely touched that her friends were being supportive in their own little ways. Gwen’s flustered rambling, Ianto’s casual acceptance and Owen’s overly flippant support. They might make her life a living hell sometimes but she did love them, “And you Gwen, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow over lunch?”

“You had better” the Welsh woman smiled as she let Tosh get back to her work, glad she hadn’t made a complete mess of the situation. She was getting better.

-

_Open me, you human fool. Open the light and summon me and receive my majesty…_

Professor Yana opened the watch with shaking fingers and Chantho could do nothing but watch as golden energy exploded from it, streaming into him violently, “Chan Professor Yana tho?” She resisted the urge to rush to his side, not knowing what had just happened and frozen still. 

He didn’t say a word, for a few seconds he looked confused before his entire persona changed. It was hard for Chantho describe and it didn’t make any sense but deep down she knew, she just knew that her professor was changed. Yana flipped a lever quickly, bursting into animation and Chantho watched through the monitor as the control room door slammed in the Doctor's face as he tried to reach them, “Chan but you've locked them in tho.”

The Doctor was banging on the door, begging to be let through but Chantho watched helplessly as the Professor ignored it, “Not to worry, my dear” he smiled but instead of making her feel warm and safe this smile instead almost scared her, an emotion the Professor had never invoked in her before, “As one door closes, another must open.”

Growing more terrified by the second, Chantho barely found the courage to speak, let alone move as Yana turned off the silo's defences, “Chan you must stop tho. Chan but you've lowered the defences” She tried to get him to see sense, “The Futurekind will get in tho”

And she wasn’t wrong, as she spoke the tribespeople were bursting through the gates, it was only when Chantho saw The Doctor and his companions break through the control room doors that she found it in herself to try and stop her friend. It wasn’t just her life at stake here, “Chan Professor, I'm so sorry, but I must stop you” she snatched up a gun from one of the many work benches with shaking hands, “You're destroying all our work tho”

When Yana turned and saw her though, she knew she’d made a mistake, “Oh” he seemed almost pleased with her, “Now I can say I was provoked” yes, she had made a mistake indeed

Whoever this man was, he was not her professor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter today, what do you think of the chapter lengths? Would you prefer me to keep doing longer chapters every other day or shorter ones everyday instead? Let me know in the comments :) Hope you’re enjoying the story so far, the first real change to canon is coming up very soon and I’m excited to see what you think of the twist!


	8. Chantho

It was strange to have the team in Jack’s house while he was away but Ianto hadn’t thought about it when he offered the place up for a team night until they were all stood on his doorstep. It had been Gwen’s idea, like most things were, to kick back for a night and ‘bond’ but it was going surprisingly well. Owen had brought beer, Toshiko some wine and Gwen handled the take out. In fact it as all going swimmingly until Owen went to turn the TV on, “Stop!” Ianto threw a hand out, a little more tipsy than he realised as he yanked the remote away form Owen

“What for? I want to check the footy results” the man grumbled as he tried to wrestle it back but Ianto in his slightly drunken stupor just shoved the remote down his trousers, there that would stop him, “Jesus Christ Ianto, what the fuck?”

“The TV is sensitive” He said the first thing that came to his head, or rather he whispered it, “No TV”

Gwen knew something was up right away though and teased, “What have you been watching?”

“Nothing! I don’t even know what a TV is, I’m from the fifties y’know” he blinked slowly as he tried to regain control of his mouth and sober up a bit, “Lets talk about something else”

Owen smirked as he went to turn the TV on by the switch, thinking Ianto had been watching something dirty, not expecting to be practically tackled by the man, “ _Ianto_ , gerrof me”

“No, leave the TV alone” he pouted into Owen’s leg which he still held in a vice grip, “Pinky swear”

After fruitlessly trying to struggle free, Owen gave up, “Fine, fine just get off. I’m losing circulation” he shook Ianto off and collapsed back onto the sofa, “Weirdo”

“I’ve been called worse” Ianto murmured back as he decided the floor was comfortable enough to sit on instead of getting to his feet again, “Tosh, you’re quieter than usual” he said without his usual finesse, “You okay?”

Startled, Tosh gave him a double take, “Me?” She had also had a lot to drink and wasn’t completely with it, “I’m fine, good actually” she smiled sappily, “Very good”

Interested once again, Gwen gave her shoulder a nudge, “Has this got anything to do with your secret girlfriend you won’t tell us anything about?”

“Maybe” Tosh smiled coyly, throwing her arms out wide, “She’s the best”

“Aw, our little Toshiko is all grown up and in love” Owen teased gently, “They grow up so fast”

“I know, it seems like only yesterday she was…” Ianto thought hard for a moment as he struggled to finish his sentence, “Reading advice columns in the newspaper?”

“Ianto!” Tosh gasped, that had been their little secret

“Oops” he giggled and Tosh forgave him, he was clearly unaccustomed to drinking large quantities of wine, “Sorry Tosh” The rest of the night slipped by with a mix of inappropriate laughter and story telling until it was time for Gwen to go home. Rhys worried if she stayed out too late and if she was being honest she missed him too. Toshiko was staying for the night in the spare room and Owen had called a taxi to take him home to Dianne and her extremely pregnant stomach.

It wasn’t long after Owen left that Gwen’s phone chimed saying Rhys was outside. As she went in for the goodbye hug at the door though, she felt something in Ianto’s trousers press up against her and pulled away with wide eyes, “Uh, Ianto? What…?” She nodded down to his crotch and Ianto gasped

“Sorry” she was horrified as she watched him slip his hands inside his jeans and was about to shout for Rhys but instead let out a relieved laugh when she saw him pull the remote out, “Not that I’m unhappy to see you” he winked with a lazy smile that reminded her all too much of jack.

“Goodnight Ianto” She rolled her eyes, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before going out to climb into Rhys’s car, they should do team bonding nights more often.

-

The master tore an energy cable from one of his many machines and held it in front of himself menacingly, “Did you never think, all those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch?” He demanded, “Never? Did you never once think, not ever, that you could set me free?”

Close to tears, Chantho shook her head frantically, “Chan I'm sorry tho. Chan I'm so sorry” the gun in her hands forgotten

“You, with your _chan_ and your _tho_ ,” he mocked her, “driving me insane”

Crying, Chantho begged him, “Chan Professor, please-”

“That is not my name! The Professor was an invention.” He explained, twirling the live cable in front of himself threateningly, “So perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am.”

Stumbling backwards, Chantho asked, “Chan then who are you tho?”

Grinning to himself, Yana looked down at the cable and then back up again at Chantho, “I am the Master” at the exact moment he thrust the cable forward, intending to kill her, Chantho fell back and hit her head. The master thought her dead while in actual fact she had only knocked herself out.

As this was happening Jack had been leading Martha and The Doctor back to the laboratory, he really hadn’t missed the running from certain death part of traveling with The Doc. What he wouldn’t give to be wearing more comfortable shoes, “This way!” He shouted as they turned the last corner to find the door to the laboratory was sealed shut 

The Doctor pounded on the door, “Professor! Professor, let me in! Let me in!” There was no reply, whoever the Professor really was he just hoped he was still inside the watch, “Jack, get the door open now!” He continued to pound on the door as Jack got to work on the lock, “Professor, where are you?! Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain. Whatever you do, don't open that watch” if he opened the watch who knows _who_ would come out of it

In the distance the futurekind’s chanting and hollering was growing closer, “They're coming!” Martha felt useless, she couldn’t help open the door and The Doctor had shouting for help covered so there was little left to do but state the obvious 

“Professor!” The Doctor shouted louder but there was still no reply, “Open the door, please! I'm begging you, Professor. Please, listen to me.”

Inside the lab Chantho was slowly waking up, groggy and uncoordinated she looked around for the Professor and remembered what had happened. He had tried to kill her, had opened the gates and left The Doctor and his friends to die. She saw him tampering with the machines closest to the blue box and reached for her gun, The Doctors shouting loud and clear from behind the doors, “Just open the door, please”

When the Professor didn’t move to help him she knew he was gone, her professor would never abandon someone in need. Her resolve hardened as she raised the gun, shooting him in the back as tears fell from her eyes. It could only have been seconds later when Jack smashed through the control panel and forced the doors open but it felt like an eternity for Chantho, watching the man she loved clutch his side in pain, stumbling for the blue box as he cursed her.

The blue doors slammed shut as The Doctor ran to them, locking before he could use his key, “Let me in!” He raged but the doors stayed closed

Martha was the first to Chantho’s side, she had been laying on floor next to a live cable when they got into the lab and was presumed dead. It was quite a shock for her when she saw Chantho was not only alive but awake, “She's not dead” Martha told Jack as she looked her over

Jack was trying to hold the door closed but managed to look over with surprise, “Can she stand? I broke the lock. Give me a hand” the futurekind were on the other side and he couldn’t hold them all off by himself, it’s not like The Doc was offering up a solution either as he stood outside the Tardis begging

The Professors voice filtered back to them through the Tardis doors as the windows glowed gold, “Killed by an insect. A girl. How inappropriate” Chantho ducked her head as she cried, still helping to keep the doors shut even if she was feeling weak, “Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I.” The Professor declared, “The Master reborn”

-

Ianto woke up to a pounding headache and a stiff neck, seems like in his drunken stupor he had decided sleeping on the sofa was a good idea. He’d thought he could handle his liquor but whatever was in that wine Tosh brought last night had sent him wappy. Groaning to himself as he sat up Ianto surveyed the living room, nothing was broken so that was a start. The tortoises were all safe and sound in their tank and it looks like he’d even tidied up to some extent before passing out last night.

First things first, Toshiko was in his spare room and would be wanting breakfast, or at least a cup of coffee and some paracetamol. Ianto wasted no time in rushing through his morning routine, getting washed, dressed and caffeinated before taking a cup upstairs for his guest, “knock knock” he tapped on the open door with a tired smile, “I brought you some coffee”

“Oh you are a godsend” Toshiko moaned as she sat up in bed, her hair was a mess and she had slept in the same clothes she was wearing yesterday but she was still beautiful, “Thank you for letting me sleep here last night”

“Don’t mention it,” he handed her the cup, “We’ve got work in an hour but I can cover your first shift if you want to take the morning off”

Toshiko considered it for all of three seconds before shaking her head, “Thanks for the offer but I’m pretty sure you’ve got a worse hangover than me, even if you’re better at hiding it”

“Oh please, I never get hangovers” Ianto scoffed even as his head pounded, “I have an incredibly high alcohol tolerance”

“Oh yeah?” Tosh raised an eyebrow at him, “So you weren’t absolutely plastered last night then?”

“No more drunk than you were” Ianto crossed his arms

Not one to accept defeat, Toshiko pointed out, “You put the TV remote down your pants”

But she forgot that Ianto was equally, if not more stubborn than herself, “You called your girlfriend and told her she had pretty eyes and that you wanted to look at them all the time”

“I didn’t” Tosh gasped, competition of who was the lightweight forgotten for the moment, “I don’t remember that”

“Um… sorry, you kind of did.” Ianto looked apologetic as he told her, “She just laughed though, said she would see you soon and hung up”

“Oh god that’s so embarrassing” Tosh moaned, hiding her face in a pillow

“I’m sure she understands” Ianto patted her shoulder kindly, “She sounds like a wonderful woman”

“She really is” Tosh groaned, “Its awful having to lie all the time about what I do, it must have been so much easier for you and Jack, you’ve always known what he did for a living”

“ _Actually,_ ” Ianto raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t know anything about Torchwood until I came home from the war and even then he told me barely anything until I was mauled by a Weevil and hired after the fact”

“Okay... so maybe easier isn’t the right word to use” she sighed, “You guys have a complicated love story”

“I guess we do” Ianto smiled to himself, “I wouldn’t change it for the world though”

“I bet”

“So how did you and your mystery woman meet?” Ianto asked, holding up his hands in surrender, “I swear I won’t go looking her up on the data base, I’m just curious. You barely ever talk about her”

“I don’t want her exposed to this part of my life, to Torchwood” She worried her lip, “But I suppose I can tell you a little about her”

“I’m sure she’s great Tosh. Why don’t you start with her name?” He prompted when she went quiet

“Beth” Tosh sighed in relief once she got the word out, “She’s called Beth, she works for the council and she’s the most beautiful woman I have ever met”

“That’s great Tosh” Ianto grinned, proud that his friend had finally opened up about this, “That’s really great”

“Maybe I could introduce you guys sometime” Tosh thought aloud, “She has been asking to meet some of my friends”

“I’d be honoured, though I’d keep Jack away for a little while yet when he comes back, he’s awfully protective of you”

“He is?” Tosh asked, surprised, she knew Jack cared about her but protective? Really?

“Oh yeah,” Ianto nodded, unknowingly changing Toshiko’s whole perception of her boss, “When I first arrived here he told me that you were the one to talk to if I had any questions but even I got warned not to upset you”

“I never knew”

“Really?” Ianto gave her a bemused look, “Who do you think vetted all your previous romantic partners?”

“He didn’t” Tosh squinted at him to see if he was joking but he didn’t so much as crack a smile as he backed out of the room. If she were any less hung over she would have chased after him but at that moment in time Toshiko was all too happy to believe him. She had always thought of Jack as family, looks like he returned the sentiment.


	9. Opinions and Expectations

“He wants us to go _where_?” Owen raised his eyebrow, unimpressed, at Gwen who was telling them they had a new mission, “We don’t answer to the prime minister, tell him to stick UNIT on it”

Gwen was having none of it though, Ianto had trusted her to field a couple of calls lately and was big on promoting interagency cooperation, “He said it was important and that he wanted the best of the best to handle it, us” she wanted to prove that she could be trusted. Her and Ianto had a bit of a rocky start and she was finally making some headway with him, she really wanted to prove herself.

“A Yeti though? In the Himalayas? Something doesn’t feel right, we don’t even have jurisdiction out there” Owen crossed his arms

Weighing in from her side of the table next to Ianto, Tosh fiddled with her pen nervously, “I think we should go- No Owen listen, I think we should go and take a look, you know how awful our relationship was with the last PM, maybe two of us should go and two stay back to watch the Rift. We can’t just leave it unattended”

“That’s not a bad idea” Ianto was nodding along, “I can call in a favour with UNIT, get a small team put together to help us. It’s certainly bigger than a two man job”

“Bags not going” Owen threw his arms up in the air, “Dianne’s eight months pregnant, no way am I sauntering off to the Himalayas for the week”

Ianto nodded and got to his feet, taking charge, “So me and Gwen then” he didn’t need to look at Tosh to know she was smiling gratefully at him, he knew all about her aversion of UNIT and would never force her into such close working proximity of them, “I’ll get the team put together, you two can cover the Rift and we should be back before we know it”

“Who put you in charge?” Owen grumbled even as he agreed and followed to orders

“Jack did actually, like I have told you a thousand times before” Ianto stared him down, “Do we have a problem?” He was done being a doormat, he faced death on the daily, he was done taking Owen’s shit

Smirking, Owen shook his head and leant back in his chair, “No boss”

“You’ll crack your head open doing that” Ianto rolled his eyes at him and sure enough as Owen was coming up with some surly retort his chair slipped out form under him, sending him sprawling to the floor, “Told you so”

“Shut up” He grumbled, rubbing his sore elbow as he got back up, “Have fun freezing your arse off in the Himalayas teaboy”

-

“Doctor! You'd better think of something!” Jack grunted as he struggled to keep the door closed, the futerkind trying to force their way in while The Doc was just standing there outside the Tardis listening to Yana’s maniacal laughter

“Now then, Doctor.” He was strutting around the console, getting a feel for his new body, “Ooo, new voice. Hello, hello”

“Listen to me” The Doctor pleaded, “let me in”

“I don’t think so” Martha frowned at the voice, it sounded familiar, “Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don't think”

Yes, it was definitely familiar, “Hold on. I know that voice”

The Doctor ignored her though in favour of trying to talk sense into his friend, “I'm asking you really properly. Just stop. Just think!”

“Use my name” he said after a short tense silence, made no shorter nor less tense by the very real threat of the futerkind overpowering Jack and Martha who were trying to force the door shut, Chantho was trying her best but wasn’t much help

“Master” The Doctor forced the words past his lips, “I’m sorry.”

Inside the Tarids, The Master smirked, “Tough!”

“We can't hold out much longer, Doctor!” Jack winced as he pushed as hard as he could, if they carried on much longer the futerkind were going to overpower him and do God knows what, he’d already dealt with cannibals once in the last couple of years, twice just wasn’t fair.

The Doctor seemed to snap out of it this time though and Jack felt a wave of relief wash over him when he pulled out the sonic, was he going to fix the door? Apparently not, instead he pointed it at the Tardis, “Oh, no you don't!” The Master groused as the time rotor sparked, “End of the universe. Have fun. Bye, bye!”

“Doctor, stop him!” Martha cried as the Tardis started to dematerialise right in front of her, their only way off the planet vanishing in front of her eyes, “Help us. They're getting in!” Chantho was trying her best but she was still pretty weak, her and Jack were no match against the literal hoard outside

With the Tardis gone, The Doctor turned back to his companions and realised the situation they were in, “Jack, hold still!” He rushed over to them and pushed the Captain’s sleeve out of the way so he could fiddle with his Vortex Manipulator, “Don't move! Hold it still” he repeated himself

“I'm telling you, it's broken” Jack growled, “It hasn't worked for years”

“That's because you didn't have me.” The Doctor told him confidently, “Martha, Chantho grab hold, now” With everyone holding on to the manipulator, The Doctor hit a sequence of keys and they vanished

-

“Saxon wants to know how many of us are going” Gwen whispered, covering the mouth piece of the phone as Ianto walked by carrying their luggage to the spare SUV

Strange, Ianto thought to himself, he didn’t know what it was but he didn’t trust the new PM, call him old fashioned or paranoid but Dianne agreed with him. Maybe it _was_ just an old fashion thing, still couldn’t hurt to be cautious, “Tell him we’re all going, see what he tries to get up to while he thinks he’s not being watched” He listened to Gwen go back to the call and nodded to himself confidently, smart plan Ianto. He should get Tosh to keep an eye on him while he was away.

The UNIT team of hand picked soldiers were waiting for them at the airfield but if Ianto could trade places with Owen or Tosh he would in a heart beat. He was dreading the flight, after being snatched by the rift not once but twice he was a little hesitant to go in either another plane or dance hall.

Still, no rest for the wicked, “Ready?” Gwen asked as she joined him by the SUV

“Sure, what did you tell Rhys?” Ianto let her drive, he’d gotten his license back a few months ago but still felt a little overwhelmed sometimes with the amount of cars on the roads, especially when he was already a little jittery.

Gwen didn’t seem to notice though, good to know his mask still worked on some people, “Oh, I told him it was a training thing, he didn’t ask too many questions. He’s good like that”

“You know, once Jack gets back you might be able to convince him Rhys is trustworthy” Ianto glanced over to gauge her reaction, “I mean you told me he was planning on proposing”

“He was” Gwen nodded, deep in thought, “Well, he kind of did actually”

“Excuse me?” Ianto wasn’t one for bouts of dramatics but that certainly grabbed his attention, he immediately looked for a ring but found none on her finger, oh… had she said no? 

Seemingly following his train of thought, Gwen laughed, “I knew you’d be the first to find out, I said yes. We’re engaged but the ring was too small, he had to take it back to the jewellers”

“How long ago was this?” Ianto asked with a broad smile, genuinely happy for his friend, He and Gwen had gotten a lot closer since Jack left. Ianto didn’t know exactly why it had taken his absence for them to bond but suspected it was something to do with how his lover tended to demand everyone’s attention almost constantly, leaving him and Gwen little time to get to know eachother. Not that Ianto minded, he’d been in love with him for decades, “Why didn’t you tell us all right away?”

“Promise you won’t tell the others?” Gwen asked

Ianto crossed his heart, “I swear”

“He proposed last week but… well he tried to get down on one knee… hurt his back- he proposed laying down on the sofa and I just know Owen’s going to take the mick if I tell him” she shot him a beseeching look, “Don’t say anything, will you?”

“You’re worried about Owen taking the mick?” Ianto could hardly believe what he was hearing, “Owen takes the mick out of everything but it shouldn’t matter. So what if Rhys didn’t do the whole roses and candles thing… do you regret saying yes?”

“Of course not!” Gwen replied immediately, “I love him”

Ianto couldn’t help but think about Jack, “I bet he could have proposed in the middle of a snowstorm in a farmers filed and it wouldn’t have changed a thing, don’t let other peoples opinions and expectations ruin what you and Rhys have. You don’t have to play by their rules, you know?”

Gwen shook her head slowly as she let his words sink in, “Your so…”

“I’m so what?” Ianto raised an eyebrow

“It’s just… you’re so full of… sometimes I forget what you must have seen, must have been through, how young you are. You’re just Ianto, yet sometimes when you talk you sound so… wise”

“I’m not that young” Ianto huffed, “My age is a mystery even to myself, with all the time travel curtesy of the rift and freezing myself for almost a century, I’ve honestly lost count”

“Are you worried about the plane?” Gwen finally realised why he’d been fussing all morning back at the hub

“Of course not” Ianto lied, “Why would I be?”

Gwen wanted to reach out and pat him on the knee or something, anything to show she was there for him but instead concentrated on driving, “Well, if we do get snatched by the rift at least I’ve got an expert of getting home with me, eh?”

Having not expected that, Ianto let out a surprised laugh, “I suppose” that said though if the rift decided to fuck him over again he’d stop at nothing to close it for good, snatching him twice was two times too many as it was, let it try for a third.


	10. The Great Disguise

Unbeknown to the general public walking along the streets of London a vortex was whirling in one of its many back ally’s, blowing rubbish around as it spat out The Doctor followed by Jack, Martha and a very disgruntled Chantho, “Chan, my head, tho” she moaned, clutching her forehead as Martha groaned next to her

“Time travel without a capsule” The Doctor cricked his neck, “That's a killer” he sniffed

Not all that bothered about the bumpy ride, Jack hurried to stick his head out into the street to see where they were, “Still, at least we made it” he smiled as he returned to them, “Earth, twenty first century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky.”

“That wasn't luck, that was me” The Doctor told him

“Uh, guys?” Martha grabbed their attention, pointing to Chantho who was clearly panicking as the reality set in

The Doctor opened his mouth to reassure her but Jack surprised him by beating him to it, “Hey” he held his hands out in front of him to show he wasn’t a threat as he approached Chantho, “Take it easy blue, nice deep breaths. You’re safe now” he carried this on until she was breathing evenly, just twittering on about nothing as Martha and The Doctor whispered behind him.

“Jack” Martha hissed, pulling him away slightly, “She’s an alien in the middle of London. If anyone see’s her-”

“Good point” Jack looked down at himself, the 40’s get up would do for him but Martha and The Doc needed sprucing up a bit, “Wait here for me, I’ll be right back!” Before The Doctor could argue Jack was running off, he didn’t like that at all and the irony was not lost on him, perhaps he had been a bit harsh. Still he could deal with that later, for now they had work to do

-

Ianto sat biting his thumb nail nervously in the car as their plane prepared for boarding, he was trying really hard not to throw up or do anything else socially crippling but his anxiety levels were through the roof. The last time he’d been in a plane it had ripped him away from everything he knew and loved, except Jack that is but Jack wasn’t even here right now. Oh how he wished he was, his lover would know just the thing to say to calm him down.

“Ianto, you ready?” Gwen smiled kindly at him as she opened his door, “The UNIT team are all onboard, they’re just waiting for us”

_For me you mean,_ Ianto thought to himself as he forced his legs to cooperate and carry him to the plane, he could do this, he’d faced off against Nazi’s and Owen’s cooking, he could do this, “Gwen” he froze at the side of the plane and swallowed past the lump in his throat, “Please don’t think of me any differently if something happens”

“I would never” She weaved her arm through the crook of his elbow and helped him inside the private jet UNIT had provided for them, “You have nothing to be afraid of, I’m right here if you need me”

“Thank you” he exhaled as he let her pull him inside, it looked like a normal plane, it had seats, windows and not enough space for overhead luggage, “I’m alright”

“It’s okay if you’re not” Gwen insisted as she sat next to him, leaning in close to whisper, “I’ll let you in on a little secret, I’ve never been on a plane before so I have no idea what to expect. I’m half terrified honestly”

“You’ll be fine, this thing is probably ten times safer than the rusty old tin buckets I had to endure through the war” Ianto reassured her, feeling better knowing he wasn’t the only one freaking out a little

“I’ll bet” she laughed, keeping her hand on his arm as the pilot announced they were ready for take off, “Here we go, belt on?”

Ianto gave her an unimpressed look but nodded anyway, “Yes mum”

“Cheeky sod” she slapped him affectionately before gesturing to the team of five UNIT soldiers Ianto had picked out, “Who’s this lot then?”

Pointing out each man, Ianto gave her their names, “Smith, Wilkinson, Abbot, Thompson and Rayner. They were on Jack’s list of least annoying agents” 

“He has a list?” Gwen shook her head, of course he did, he was Jack, “First names?”

Trying to keep calm as he watched the ground get further and further away out of the window, Ianto shrugged, “Not sure, they never said”

“Well, I guess we’re Cooper and Jones then” She smiled at him, trying to keep him from panicking, “Sounds like something off the telly, like a couple of comedy detectives or something, right?”

Licking his lips, Ianto nodded along, “Hmm” to be honest he wasn’t really listening, he was too focused on making sure his breakfast stayed where it was, “Yeah” Gwen was slightly concerned when Ianto turned almost ghostly white, she was about to offer to get him some water when the plane shook around them. It was only a little turbulence but it had Ianto bolting from his seat and locking himself in the toilet. 

“Ianto!” She knocked loudly on the door, grimacing when she heard him retching inside, “Everything’s fine Ianto, it was just a little turbulence”

Inside the tiny cubicle Ianto was sitting on the floor gasping for breath, everything around him was spinning out of control and he knew he had to get a grip. All he could think about was Jack though, how he wanted his comforting arms, his gentle lips pressing soothing kisses to his forehead, his calloused hands running through his hair, grounding him in the here and now. It was hopeless, Jack wasn’t here and he had to deal with this himself.

Lifting a shaking hand, Ianto unlocked the door and let Gwen in. He couldn’t do this by himself and if it was a choice between letting Gwen see just how broken he was or passing out from lack of oxygen in a plane toilet then it wasn’t really much of a choice, “Ianto!” She crouched down next to him and fluttered her hands about, not sure what she could do to help, “Tell me what to do” she practically begged, “What do you need”

“Jack” he knew he was whining and that Gwen couldn’t just pluck him out of thin air but he couldn’t bring himself to care, “I need Jack”

Mind racing a mile a minute, Gwen gnawed on her bottom lip. Ianto was clearly having some sort of panic attack and wanted Jack, she had no way of getting Jack to him though so she would just have to improvise. Do what Jack would right now, she needed to distract him- ground him, “Hey, Ianto could you look at me a second?” She tilted his head in her direction and noted how he leant into the contact, she kept her hand in his hair as she jerked her head back toward their seats, “Who do you think’s fitter, Smith or Wilkinson?”

“What?” Ianto looked at her as if she was crazy but at least his eyes were more focused, less glazed over, “I- I don’t-”

“I’ll admit Smith has the better physique but did you see Wilkinsons arse? If I weren’t engaged, still, Thompson isn’t bad to look at either but none of them hold a candle to Jack, am I right?”

Confused, Ianto continued to look at her as if she had lost the plot, “Jack- you think Jack’s nice to look at?”

“I’m engaged, not blind” Gwen rolled her eyes, “I had a bit of a thing for him before you came back, I knew it wasn’t going anywhere. I was with Rhys and he was all… mysterious but he’s a nice piece of eye candy, I can see why he got your attention”

“Jack isn’t a piece of meat” Ianto told her crossly, missing her pleased smile as she got the reaction she wanted from him, pulling him from his panic to defend the man he loved, “He’s an intelligent man with thoughts and feelings, not just some body for you to ogle when you feel like it”

“You’re completely right” Gwen nodded, waiting a second before asking, “How are you feeling?”

Once again completely blindsided, Ianto blinked rapidly and looked around as if he had no idea where he was, “Um… better, not great but alright”

“Do you want to get up off the floor?” Gwen asked kindly, not at all judging, “You gave me a bit of a scare”

Groaning to himself, Ianto clambered to his feet and leant against the wall with his head bowed, “I am so sorry Gwen, I can’t begin to apologise enough-”

“Don’t be silly” she cut him off, squeezing his shoulder, “As long as you’re alright now, I wasn’t sure what to do, I hope I didn’t balls up too much”

“No, no you were great. I’m the idiot” Ianto wanted the ground to swallow him whole, beyond humiliated that Gwen had seen him like that. It was bad enough Jack had to put up with him being a near constant nervous wreck but now Gwen too? Why couldn’t he handle a single little plane ride without nearly passing out? He was a wreck, “I don’t know what happened. One minute I was fine and the next I was going to be sick”

“It was probably the turbulence” Gwen gave him an out which he clutched tightly with both hands, “I’m not feeling too well myself actually”

“You’d best go sit down, um, can I get you a drink?” Ianto tried to put all the attention on her, the sooner he could slip away the better. Seeing as he was on a small plane it was going to be a little harder to do but he reckoned he could pull it off

“Sure, come with me?” Gwen used her doe eyes that she hadn’t yet realised had no effect on gay men but Ianto humoured her anyway

“Of course” he followed her back to their seat on slightly shaky legs and prayed that he could hold it together for the rest of the flight, if he span out like that again he may be forced to bail out just to avoid the embarrassment.

-

Martha wasn’t sure what she expected when Jack came running back into the ally a few minutes later holding a plastic shopping bag but Halloween costumes sure as hell wasn’t it, “Uh, Jack… why?” She asked as he passed her fairy wings and a pot of glitter

The Doctor was no better off, holding his werewolf mask in front of him as if Jack had picked it up off the floor of a men’s public toilet, “I could ask the same thing”

“It’s a disguise” he said as if that explained everything, which it really didn’t. Seeing their uncomprehending expressions, Jack explained further, “If we _all_ look weird people are hardly going to notice Chantho. Next to a fairy, a World War Two soldier and a grumpy werewolf, who’s going to be looking at the blue insect lady. No offence Chantho”

“Chan it is quite alright tho”

Jack grinned at her and raised his eyebrows at the others, “See, Chantho agrees”

“I am not wearing this” The Doctor waved the werewolf mask in front of himself dramatically

“We can always switch if you want” Martha glared at him as she allowed Jack to help her into her wings, really what other choice did they have? 

The Doctor grumbled as he grudgingly went along with Jack’s plan, so much for blending in, he thought as Jack marched proudly down the street with them in tow, “The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator” he boasted, winking at a young woman who giggled at their attire as they strode past

“But this Master bloke, he's got the Tardis” Martha tried to keep her head down, “He could be anywhere in time and space.”

Pulling the mask up so he could be understood, The Doctor corrected her, “No, he's here. Trust me.”

“Who is he, anyway?” She asked as The Doctor put the mask back down, “And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor.”

“Chan, as soon as he opened the watch he was gone, tho” Chantho told her as she looked around with wide eyes, Earth was like nothing she ever seen before, “Chan, it was as if the Professor died and was replaced by a man I never knew, tho”

“If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated” Jack cast the Doc a quick glance as Martha asked what that meant, when the time lord didn’t move to answer, he did instead, “It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man.”

Distraught at the thought, Martha started to panic, “Then how are we going to find him?” How were they going to get the Tardis back?

Jack tried not to smile too much as The Doc lifted his mask again, he may have picked out the most inconvenient disguise for him but really it served him right for being a bit of a dick since he’d revived outside of the Tardis just a few hours ago, “I'll know him, the moment I see him. Time Lords always do.” The Doctor told her cryptically, yeah definatly didn’t feel bad about the mask

“But hold on” Martha drew to a halt outside a shop, looking at the TV in the window, “If he could be anyone… we missed the election” The Doctor watched her as she looked frantically around, seeing something he couldn’t, “But it can't be”

“What?” The Doctor tried to see what she was seeing but failed, the vote Saxons posters slipping right under his radar, “Martha, what is it?” She just pointed at the screen in the window silently

The Newsreader smiled back at them, “Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters” The new Prime Minister was walking down steps with his wife on the screen

“I said I knew that voice” she shook her head, “When he spoke inside the Tardis. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him.”

“We all have” Jack continued as his eyes were glued to the screen as well, “That was the voice of Harold Saxon.”

“That's him?” The Doctor felt the bottom of his stomach fall out, “He's Prime Minister” Saxon smiled for the cameras and kissed his wife, “The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Master and his wife?” 

“Chan, is this important, tho?” Chantho asked nervously as people continued to stare at her and her new friends

“Crucial, blue, because if he’s prime minister then we’re in real trouble” Jack gulped as he though about the team, how much danger were they in already? He prayed Ianto would keep them safe.


	11. Kinky son of a Bitch

“Home sweet home” Martha ushered them all inside her flat quickly, not wanting her neighbours to see them in the state they were, fairy wings and glitter on a Wednesday morning would be hard to explain.

“What have you got? Computer, laptop, anything” The Doctor barely glanced around before frowning at Jack who was on his mobile, “Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here”

Hanging up, Jack held his phone nervously between his hands, “Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply.” He really shouldn’t worry, sure Ianto hadn’t picked up but he was still getting used to modern technology. He’d probably been frowning at the screen, his nose crinkled up cutely as he tried to remmeber which button to press. Then again he’d been getting much better recently… no, he told himself, everything was fine, Ianto’s was fine, the team was fine, he needed to concentrate on helping The Doc find the rogue timelord who’d stolen his Tardis.

“I can show you the Saxon websites” Jack intercepted Martha and took the laptop she’d been about to offer The Doctor, “He's been around for ages” Lizzie was going to be peeved when she found out Saxon had been an alien this entire time and had avoided detection, he’d be lucky if she didn’t seriously cut Torchwood’s funding for this.

“Chan, can I help, tho?” Chantho was standing stock still in the middle of Martha’s living room, looking around the place with wide eyes

Martha was at her side immediately, “You should sit down, you had a nasty fall” she was probably in shock, Martha could remember her own first time on an alien planet, well the moon but who’s counting, and it had certainly been a shock to the system. At least there were no alien Rhinos this time, just escaped time lords from the end of the universe, how bad could it be?

“Chan, I feel fine, tho” Chantho shook her head, watching as Jack pulled up site after site on the laptop, all of which appeared to be showcasing the same man.

Martha followed Chantho’s line of sight and tried to wrap her head around it, “That's so weird though. It's the day after the election...” She counted the days in her head, “That's only four days after I met you.”

“We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time” The Doctor mused

“You going to tell us who he is?” Jack raised an eyebrow, not surprised when he was given the bare minimum

The Doctor didn’t even look up from the screen as he repeated information they already knew, “He's a Time Lord”

Martha dug deeper though, “What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?”

“Sounds like a kinky son of a bitch to me” Jack said more to himself than to the others but The Doctor glared at him anyway, not at all amused

“That's all you need to know,” The Doctor frowned, “Come on, show me more Harold Saxon”

-

When the plane landed Ianto couldn’t disembark quick enough, if it wouldn’t have drawn attention to him he would have collapsed onto his knees and kissed the earth beneath his feet. There was no way he was flying back to Cardiff, he’d use trains, boats, busses full of crying toddlers, you name it but he was never setting foot in another plane. If God had intended him to fly he would have given him wings, “Are you quite alright Agent Jones?” Smith asked as he followed him out of the plane

“Yes, yes I’m fine” Ianto nodded stiffly as he waited for Gwen, feeling terrible when she disembarked carrying both their luggage, “Let me help” he rushed to her side, taking the heavier of the two bags even as Gwen rolled her eyes at him

“It’s bloody freezing, please tell me we’e not going to be outside the whole time while we’re looking for this thing” she pleaded as the UNIT team fell into step behind them

Used to worse conditions, Ianto wasn’t that bothered by the cold but that being said he wasn’t exactly a fan of it either, “There’s a cabin in the mountains,” Ianto put her mind at ease, “It’s close enough to where the reported sightings have been logged but far enough away that it won’t alert whatever it is to our position” it all seemed too easy to him but he was trying very hard not to look a gift horse in the mouth, “Remember our cover story, there are a few cabins close by us and we don’t want to seem suspicious”

“Right” Gwen nodded along, she’d studied their cover story more than she’d studied for her GCSE’s at school, there was no way she was going to blow this for them

“Excuse me, Agent Jones?” That was Abbot and Ianto didn’t like his guilty look, “What exactly is our cover?”

“You didn’t read the enclosed mission prep?” Ianto never raised his voice but Gwen could see the man shrinking back as if he’d been screamed at, Ianto had the affect on people. He could be calm as an ocean before a storm and still have men twice his size cowering at his feet. It wasn’t a power she often saw Ianto used but it was always magnificent when he did, especially when it wasn’t directed at her.

“Um, no sir” Abbot cringed, “I’m sorry, sir”

Ianto sighed, shaking his head with disappointment and Gwen swore she saw tears in the mans eyes before Ianto had mercy and took pity on him, “We’re posing as environmentally concerned geo-adventurers, I trust I don’t have to explain to you what one of those is?” When Abbot just squeaked Ianto sighed once more, “We’re looking for points geographical interest, that way we won’t draw attention to ourself by looking for something. Are you following?”

Abbot’s face was cherry red and not just because of the cutting wind, “Yes sir” his teammates weren’t going to let him forget this. Ever.

“I was meaning to ask” Gwen said quietly once Ianto had finished chewing the poor guy out, “Where did you get the idea from? I’d never even heard of geo-adventures before reading through the mission prep”

“That’s actually a very interesting story, I was watching a fascinating do-”

“Documentary, of course” Gwen laughed to herself, slipping an arm through Ianto’s to show she wasn’t laughing at him, “Come on fount of all knowledge, lets get inside before we freeze to death”

-

Martha switched off her answering machine while Jack showed The Doctor and Chantho all the pro Saxon campaigns that had been everywhere the last couple of months, Sharan Obsourne, McFly, even Ann Widdecombe had all publicly come forward and encouraged people to vote Saxon. It was bizarre to think he’d been an alien all long.

“Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve.” Jack was explaining as she walked back into the room, “Nice work, by the way.”

“Oh, thanks” The Doctor said absentmindedly as he scrolled through Saxon’s Wikipedia page

“But he goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story.” She pointed at the screen, “Look, Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life.”

Seeing The Doc struggling to come to terms with this, Jack realised his connection with this Time Lord ran deeper than he was willing to admit. He wasn’t sure what to do, did he confront him about it? Leave it alone? He found himself thinking ‘what would Ianto do’ and came to a pretty solid resolution, “Anyone want a cuppa?”

“Chan, I can help, tho” Chantho followed him into the kitchen, leaving Martha and The Doctor alone

Never sure when to push and when to leave it well alone, Martha decided to go for it, “You know who he is, The Master. Did you know him before…?”

“What’s he doing here?” The Doctor asked instead, “Why go to all this trouble, become the prime minister, fabricate this life for himself and _how_ , all so soon…”

Having been eavesdropping with Chantho while making them mugs of tea, Jack poked his head round the kitchen door, “But he's got the Tardis. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades”

“No” The Doctor told him bluntly

“Why not?” Jack cocked an eyebrow as he got back to helping Chantho stir in the sugar, “Worked for me”

“When he was stealing the Tardis, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the Tardis landed. Which is right here, right now.”

“Yeah, but a little leeway?”

“Well, eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months” The Doctor told them all firmly, “So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale.”

Martha had no clue, “I was going to vote for him.”

Now that had his attention, “Really?”

“Well, it was before I even met you.” She shrugged, “And I liked him.”

“Me too” Jack scowled into his cup as he handed them out, he didn’t like being manipulated

“Why do you say that? What was his policy?” The Doctor asked, “What did he stand for?”

Martha’s brows furrowed as she concentrated, “I don't know” she tapped her cup idly, “He always sounded good.”

“Like you could trust him” Jack was nodding along

Martha was glad she wasn’t been the only one here that had been put under his spell, “Just nice. He spoke about... I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice.”

“What's that?” The Doctor snapped, pointing at her hands

Startled, Martha shook her head as if coming out of a daze, “What?”

“That” The Doctor repeated himself “That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?”

“I don't know. It's nothing. It's just- I don't know.” Martha was obviously flustered and Jack swooped in to save her

“Look, this thing says Saxon’s live” he snatched up the remote and flicked the TV on

Suitably distracted, The Doctors eyes locked onto the screen, “Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom”


	12. Public Enemies 1, 2 and 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so I’ve got the next two chapters written and ready to post but the third is being difficult. I’m not sure when I’m going to have time to sit down and iron it out so this is just a little warning that it might be a little later than usual. The next two should be posted regularly and I’ll keep you updated on the third.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this one and feel free to leave me a comment!

“Britain, Britain, Britain. What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies. You've seen it happen.” The Master was broadcasting loud and clear all around the globe, “Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill.”

In the hub, Owen and Tosh were watching him with their jaws by their feet, “What the fuck is he doing?” Owen whispered as Saxon carried on, he had no clue what to do in this situation. What the hell was Saxon thinking?

“Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this. I have been contacted.” The Master grinned down the lens and spread his arms out wide, “A message for humanity, from beyond the stars.”

All around the world people watched with wrapt attention as three metal spheres appeared out of thin air, floating around Saxon’s head, “People of the Earth,” the sphere lit up as it spoke, “We come in peace. We bring great gifts.”

The second sphere took over, “We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship.”

Deep in the mountains Gwen and Ianto were watching as well, huddled around the tiny TV in their cabin with the UNIT team as Saxon cooed, “Ooo, sweet. And this species has identified itself.” He preened, “They are called the Toclafane.”

In Martha’s flat The Doctor was sat on the edge of his seat, staring at the screen with indignation, “What?” He continued to watch silently as The Master carried on with his little performance

“And tomorrow morning, they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child” The Master looked into the camera and Martha got chills, “Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. Oh, I don't know, every _medical student?_ ”

Snapping into action, The Doctor leapt up and span Martha’s TV around to see sticks of explosive strapped to the back, “Out!” He shouted, grabbing the laptop as he pushed Chantho outside in front of him, they barely got out before the entire first floor exploded, the windows smashing as fire spread wildly, “All right?” He ran a quick eye down everybody, relieved to see they were all still in one piece

“Fine, yeah, fine.” Jack brushed glass off his coat and moved to help Chantho to her feet from where she had fallen, “Chantho?”

“Chan, I am okay, tho” she thanked him as he straightened her lab coat that she was still wearing, “Chan, thank you Captain, tho“

With a forced sense of levity, Jack winked, “Don’t mention it blue”

The Doctor had been busy watching the exchange and so missed how Martha pulled out her phone until it was too late, “Martha? What are you doing?”

“He knows about me. What about my family?” She demanded as she prayed for her mum to answer

Moving further away from the burning building, The Doctor warned her “Don't tell them anything.” They were safer kept out of all this

Fed up with him and placing most of the fault at The Doctors doorstep for the situation they found themselves in, Martha snapped, “I'll do what I like. Mum? Oh my God” she’s answered, “You're there”

Leaving Martha to her call, Jack debated trying Ianto again. If The Master was planning some sort of invasion then Torchwood needed to be ready, then again his team were probably already on it if they’d seen the broadcast. Not wanting to interrupt them and derail their work, Jack instead settled for a text, simply informing Ianto that he was back and would offer any help he could. He couldn’t go back to Cardiff now, not when The Doctor needed him and as much as he would like to trust him not to run off again, he didn’t.

“Chan, is Martha alright, tho?” Chantho drew Jack’s attention from his phone where he’d been waiting for a reply and snapped him back to attention. Martha was arguing with The Doctor and it didn’t sound good.

“We've got to help them.” She was squaring up to The Doc and Jack held a new found respect for her, not many people could square up to the upcoming storm unflinchingly and walk away unscathed

“That's exactly what they want. It's a trap!” The Doctor argued back but Martha a was walking away from him towards her car

“I don't care” she got into the drivers seat and Jack was quick to help Chantho into the back with him as The Doc took the front seat, not eager to be abandoned by the side of the road. He did have to wonder if Martha was letting her emotion cloud her judgement but then with one thought of his own family he understood, nothing wouldn standing in his way if one of his team were in danger. Not even The Doctor.

-

“What do we do?” Owen threw his arms out wide as he waited for Tosh to give him instructions, he wasn’t a natural born leader and he had no clue what to do when faced with a prime minister who’d invited aliens to come play

“We’re not supposed to be here” Tosh was busy hacking into private channels, trying to find any information she could on the Toclafane, “Ianto wanted me to keep an eye on Saxon while he was away but I never expecting anything on this scale”

“So what? We do nothing?” Owen challenged

“What do you suggest we do? We can’t take him out, we don’t know anything about the aliens he’s brought to our doorstep and if things go tits up tomorrow Cardiff is going to need protection that we can’t offer if he finds out we’re here and has us taken into custody” Tosh laid out her argument succinctly, “So yes, we do nothing. We can watch and wait unless you have a genius idea to stop the could be invasion?”

“We could set a weevil on him” Owen grumbled after a moment of thought

Huffing, Tosh got back to trying to intercept calls between the higher ups at UNIT, “Think about it Owen, he tried to send us away chasing big foot. Saxon doesn’t know we’re here, that gives us an advantage”

“Alright Tosh, we do this your way” Owen agreed, pulling out his phone, “But I’m bringing Dianne in, she’s safer in the Hub than my flat if aliens come a knocking” he paused, hovering over the call button, “You still sure you want to keep Beth out of all this?”

“If things don’t go to plan” Tosh worried her bottom lip, “I’ll consider it” if push came to shove Toshiko would rather have Beth safe in the Hub but until the threat was real she’d hold back in letting her know she caught aliens for a living. That was going to be a fun conversation for sure.

-

Ianto knew there was something he didn’t like about Saxon, he should have trusted his gut but instead of staying in Cardiff where he could monitor the situation he’d gone not he plane ride from hell and stranded himself in the mountains with a team of UNIT soldiers of all people, “Gwen, do you think Owen and Tosh are okay?” He asked her as they hiked up the mountain path towards one of the supposed sightings though the longer they spent out here the more certain Ianto was that it was just a wild goose chase designed to get them as far away as possible.

“They’re fine, they would have called otherwise” Gwen panted as she struggled to keep up

Slowing down slightly, Ianto wordlessly took her bag off her shoulders and slid it over his own, “I left my phone in the cabin, you know I hate carrying it with me” the damn thing really was his achilles heel, no matter how long he spent trying to master using it he either forgot what a certain button did or got it confused with another. 

Really it as pathetic, he was fairly competent with a computer and even had his driving listeners back but his mobile still bested him. He blamed Jack for getting him a complicated one instead of the more simple model Owen had bought for Dianne, not that he complained aloud. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful.

“Well you can check your messages once we get back” Gwen smiled at him in thanks as he lightened her load, “Speaking of, shouldn’t we be heading back soon? We’re losing light”

Squinting up at the sky, Ianto nodded, “Rayner wants to check out the clearing up ahead but after that we’ll start the trek back”

“Thank god” Gwen sighed, lugging forward with a new sense of purpose, “I lost all feeling in my feet half an hour ago”

Frowning, Ianto chastised her, “You should have said something, I would have-”

“I know” she bumped their shoulders together in a friendly fashion, “That’s why I didn’t, I know we have work to do” she didn’t want to be the one holding them back from doing the job they were here to do. She’d gladly suffer icy toes and a freezing nose if it helped her gain Ianto’s respect as a field agent and teammate. He and Tosh had an easy friendship and Owen shared a mutual respect with him after what they’d been through but she was still looking for a way to connect with him. Hopefully this trip was her chance and she wasn’t going to blow it.

-

Martha sped down the road, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic and resolutely ignoring The Doctors shouted warnings of when she went too sat around corners as she tried to get ahold of her sister, “Come on, Tish. Pick up.” She barely got two seconds on the phone with her before Tish was hanging up sounding like she was in trouble, “What's happening? Tish!” She turned her fury on The Doctor who was pretty much sitting duck at this point, “It's your fault. It's all your fault!”

When they arrived outside Martha’s mums house they were just in time to see men dressed all in black trying to get Francine into a police van, shouting all the while, “I was helping you! Get off me! Martha, get out of here! Get out!”

Armed police took up position once they were spotted and The Doctor had to snap Martha out of whatever headspace she was in, “Martha, reverse.” He shouted louder when they took aim, “Get out, now!

Martha turned the car round just in time as bullets slammed into it but Jack knew they were far from out of the woods yet, “Move it!” He exclaimed as they shot out the rear window, covering Chantho as best he could as Martha drove off. This wasn’t a game anymore, “Martha, listen to me. Do as I say” he used his best Captain voice, the one that got even Ianto to do as he was told from time to time, “We've got to ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!” They ended up ditching the car on the side of the road and taking shelter below an underpass as it started to rain, Jack was slightly concerned what would happen if anyone spotted Chantho but they had bigger problems right now. If anyone asked they could just say she was an actress in a sci-fi film being shot nearby, that line usually worked with the Weevils anyway.

“Martha, come on!” The Doctor was nearing the end of his tether as he saw her on the phone again, he was this close to confiscating it

“Leo! Oh, thank God” Martha ignored him, “Leo, you got to listen to me. Where are you?”

“I'm in Brighton. Yeah, we came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly-?”

Martha cut him off, trying to sound less hysterical than she was feeling, “Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home.” She prayed he would listen to her, ‘I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've got to hide.”

“Shut up.” Her brother laughed, thinking it was some sort of wind up

Martha clenched the phone tight in her grip, “On my life.” She pleaded, “You've got to trust me. Go to Boxer's. Stay with him. Don't tell anyone. Just hide.”

She was not expecting a difference voice to answer her, much less the voice of the man who was trying to kill her, “Ooo, a nice little game of hide and seek.” Saxon- The Master, whatever you want to call him, taunted her, “I love that. But I'll find you, Martha Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, one hundred trillion years?”

“Let them go, Saxon. Do you hear me!” She screamed into her phone, “Let them go!” She didn’t even try to stop The Doctor as he took it from her, too numb to put up a fight. Just when she thought she as going to collapse, Jack was right there at her side, propping her up, “He’s got my family”

“We’ll get them back” Jack promised as he urged her and Chantho to follow The Doc who was deep in conversation with Saxon on the phone, “I swear to you Martha, we’ll get them back”

“How can you be so sure?” She was close to tears even as she tried to fight it

Flashing one of his confident cocky grins he’d perfected over the years, Jack told her, “Because the Captains on the case” that at least, got him a laugh. One down, one to go. Jack let Martha wander off a little closer to The Doctor as they walked down the street and refocused on Chantho who was looking more lost by the second, “Feeling okay blue?”

“Chan, this planet is so strange, tho” she looked around in awe, “Chan, is this your home world, tho?”

Tricky question, “Mine? Not so much” Jack shrugged, “I’ve lived here a long time but I’m not strictly speaking a native, Martha is. I grew up somewhere else entirely so I get it, it’s strange at first but it grows on you”

Chantho nodded and wrung her hands together, “Chan, it’s a very violent place, tho”

“Yeah” Jack sighed, “It is” but before he could point out the better qualities of Earth The Doctor was stealing the spot light once again, gesturing around them wildly “What have you done? Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!”

“Doc?” Jack put an arm around Chantho and walked closer with her

“Stop it. Answer me” The Doctor snapped down the line, ignoring Jack in favour of arguing with Saxon.

It was as Jack was gearing up to demand some answers when he spotted the small TV which was broadcasting in a shop window, uh oh, that wasn’t good, ‘Nationwide Hunt For Terrorist Suspects’ was never a good thing, especially seeing as it had all their pictures too. God, at least his own had a good angle. Not that it was important right now, he could practically see Ianto rolling his eyes at him.

“You're public enemies number one, two and three. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack,” he gloated, “that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them. Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?”

The Doctor glared at the security camera and zapped it with his sonic screwdriver, “He can see us”

“Oh, you public menace” Saxon sounded almost gleeful, “Better start running. Go on, run”

The Doctor looked around feeling helpless as he struggled to come up with a plan, “He's got control of everything”

“Chan, what do we do now, tho?” Chantho asked looking desperate

Feeling as desperate as she looked, Jack shook his head, “We've got nowhere to go”

More desperate than both of them combined, Martha clutched The Doctors arm, “Doctor, what do we do?”

“Run, Doctor” The master was taunting him on the phone, “Run for your life!”

Out of options, The Doctor looked each of them dead in the eye and did what he does best, “We run”


	13. Chips and Hard Truths

_“Tomorrow morning, Britain will be welcoming an extraterrestrial species- The President is said to be furious that Great Britain has taken unilateral action.”_

“Have you seen these things?” The Master chuckled to himself, setting his glass of wine down as he flicked the channel from the news to a rerun of ‘Teletubbies’, he smiled at one of the spheres as they floated around him, “This planet's amazing. Television in their stomach. Now _that_ is evolution.”

“Is the machine ready?” They asked him

“Tomorrow morning” he promised, “It reaches critical at eight oh two precisely”

“We have to escape, because it's coming, sir” The toclafane told him desperately, “The darkness, the never ending darkness. The terrible, terrible cold. We have to run and run and run!”

Sighing, The Master took another sip of his wine, “Eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Tell your people the world is waiting.”

The sphere disappeared and The Master looked out of the window at the pouring rain feeling very dramatic as he wondered what The Doctor was doing, probably trying to come up with a way to derail his plan no doubt. Let him try, The Master thought to himself, see where that gets him. He wouldn't stop him this time.

-

Hiding out in a warehouse wasn’t exactly glamorous but Jack knew better than most that you had to work with what you were given in life. In this case that meant letting The Doctor pace about deep in thought while he tried to fill the awkward silence between him and Chantho, “So,” he spread his arms wide with a slightly forced smile, “First thoughts of planet Earth?”

“Chan, it is nice, tho” she tired not to offend him, “Chan, it is very busy, tho”

“Yeah, that’s Earth all right” Jack finally smiled for real as he thought about how he’d watched people evolve through the years, as far back as he was in perspective from his own time he had to admit the 21st century was rich with culture, “People are always moving, always changing. If you’d come here just ten years ago you’d be shocked for a whole basket of different reasons. Don’t get me started on the 60’s” he whistled lowly to himself at the memories, “Wild times”

“Chan, you speak in such riddles, tho” Chantho giggled as Martha came bustling through the warehouse doors with her arms full of takeaway

Getting to his feet to help Martha with the bags, Jack asked, “How was it?”

“I don't think anyone saw me” She handed him one of the bags and moved to place the rest on the rusty workbench they’d found abandoned there, “Anything new?”

Busy digging through the bags, Jack waved his hand in her direction, “I've got this tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing.” Aha chips! He was starving, coming back always left him ravenous.

Martha wasn’t too impressed though, “Yeah, I meant about my family.” Awkwardly looking between The Doc and Martha, Jack bit his tongue and resolved to try harder, Ianto would be smacking him round the back of the head by now for being so insensitive.

The Doctor finally came back to them, smiling to try and reassure his companion, “It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning. Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo”

“He's not as daft as he looks” Martha shook her head, though she seemed more sure of herself she was still struggling with the fact the rest of her family were basically Saxons prisoners, “I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?”

Licking his lips, Jack shot a glance at Chantho after a few seconds of awkward tension and raised his takeaway tray, “Nice chips.”

Chantho at least seemed to appreciate his attempt at lightening the mood, “Chan, they are not bad, tho”

They mostly ate in silence after that, it wasn’t until Jack finished two portions of chips that he felt slightly more human. Ianto always said he was like a bear with a sore head when he didn’t get his dinner, “So, Doctor” he balled up the greasy paper his chips came in and tossed it aside, no point keeping a pigsty clean, they’d be gone by tomorrow and Ianto wasn’t here to tell him to tidy up after himself, “Who is he? The Master” He quirked an eyebrow, “How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?”

Martha jumped on the bandwagon before The Doctor could answer, “And what is he to you? Like a colleague or…” she fished

“A friend, at first.” The Doctor looked off to the side, a tad on the dramatic side, and Jack struggled not to chuckle when he saw Chantho following his line of sight with a frown, clearly looking for what he was staring at

Martha broke the tension beautifully, “I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something”

Frowning, The Doctor looked back at her, “You've been watching too much TV.”

“But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect.” Jack had grown up with the legends back on Boeshay, had idolised The Doctor for years and now the illusion was crumbling before his eyes, it was not a pretty sight.

“Well, perfect to look at, maybe” The Doctor rolled his shoulders, “And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below”

“Chan, it sounds mysterious, tho” Chantho interrupted. Martha, irked at the interruption as it was rare to get any information about The Doctors path, held herself back from voicing her thoughts and instead encouraged The Doctor to carry on, which he did after a short silence.

“We were sworn never to interfere, only to watch” he started up again, “Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism, it's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad” He shook himself, ejecting himself from the memories, “I don't know”

“What about you?” Martha asked

Rolling his eyes, Jack asked her, “Isn’t that obvious?”

“The ones that ran away,” The Doctor told them, his eyes old and his voice soft, “I never stopped.” Interrupted once more but this time by Jack’s vortex manipulator which started to beep, he asked, “What’s that?”

“Encrypted channel with files attached” Jack squinted as he read the code, “Don't recognise it.”

Nodding over to the bench, The Doctor told him, “Patch it through to the laptop.” Tilting his head to one side when Jack hesitated, “Jack?”

“Since we're telling stories,” he winced, knowing this wasn’t going to go over well with the time lord, “there's something I haven't told you.”

-

Immediately upon returning to the cabin, Ianto shucked off his heavy coat and made a B-line to his phone. He had been worried about Toshiko and Owen almost all day and was ashamed to admit all thought of them flew from his mind when he saw a missed call from Jack, “Gwen” he barked, beckoning her over, “Look at this”

“What is it? Owen and Tosh in trouble?” She asked as she took the phone from him, gasping when she saw a text form Jack, “He’s back?”

“Looks like it,” Ianto eyed the UNIT soldiers wearingly, he didn’t know if he could trust them, “Abbot, turn the TV on would you. I want to check the news”

“Sure thing sir” Abbot hurried to do as he was told, not wanting to get any further on the Welshman’s bad side. 

Ianto didn’t know what he was expecting to find but seeing his lovers face plastered across the screen declaring him a suspected terrorist and 3rd most wanted both shocked and appalled him. For one Jack was the furthest thing from a terrorist that he could imagine, if Jack could have his way the entire world would be a peaceful place full of naked people having fun and Two, he was _third_. Who on Gods Good Earth put some random English woman he’d never even seen before ahead of _Captain Jack Harkness?_ Ianto had said Jack wanted a world full of peace and nakedness but if he really had decided to try and end it, Ianto didn’t fancy his chances in stopping him, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“That Jack’s on the most wanted list? Yeah” Gwen nodded, “What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to send him a message” Ianto told her firmly, taking his phone back with a determined glint in his eye. Whatever was going on Jack was going to have his full support, always had, always would

-

“You work for Torchwood?” The Doctor asked, looking beyond furious

“I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now.” Jack couldn’t bare to meet his eyes

“Everything Torchwood did, and you're part of it?” He spat

“The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf.” Jack argued, “I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour.”

The Doctor looked away, still not appeased as he hit play on the message, there was a women on screen whom none of them recognised, “If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means if you're watching this, then I'm... Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network”

“What's the Archangel Network?” The Doctor asked, not really expecting a response and so was surprised when Martha answered him confidently

“I've got Archangel. Everyone's got it.”

“It's a mobile phone network” Jack expanded, “Because look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel.”

“Chan, I do not understand, tho” Chantho looked at the screen with interest but no comprehension

The Doctor on the other hand, finally had enough pieces of the puzzle to put them together, “It's in the phones! Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.” He took Martha's phone and pointed his sonic at it and giving it a short pulse, triumphant when it started beeping in bars of four, “There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious.”

“What is it, mind control?” Martha asked

“No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me.” The Doctor ran his hands through his hair as he exploded out of his seat, pacing in front of them, “Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out.”

“Any way you can stop it?” Jack asked, the sooner they could disrupt the signal the sooner The Master lost control

The Doctor shook his head but didn’t look defeated, “Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it.”

“Chan, we can fight back, tho” Chantho surprised them all with the ferocity with which she said it, The Professor had been her entire world but he had been a lie and now the man she thought she had known was hurting other people, an entire planet. She knew what it felt like to have ones planet destroyed before their eyes and she wouldn’t let that happen to Earth. 

“Oh, yes!” The Doctor caught the glint in her eye, Chantho was a fighter and that is exactly what they needed.


	14. Not a Threat, a Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, looks like I missed a day? Sorry about that, hope you enjoy this slightly late chapter :)

The Doctor knew he was brilliant but it never got old watching other people think so too, he took bits and pieces from Martha’s phone and laptop, welded them onto his four gathered Tardis keys with his screwdriver and let the fun begin. 

It had been a bit of a stretch to produce four keys but luckily Jack had hung onto his own and he’d found a spare in his coat for Chantho. You’ve got to love pockets, “Four Tardis keys, four pieces of the Tardis, all with low level perception properties because the Tardis is designed to blend in. Well, sort of” he cocked his head to one side as Chantho gave him a disbelieving look, “But now, the Archangel Network’s got a second low level signal. Weld the key to the network and Martha, look at me. You can see me, yes?” He asked

“Yes” Martha looked him up and down

“What about now?” He put the string holding his key around his neck, and Martha found she could no longer look directly at him, “No, I’m here. Look at me.” He waved his hand when his companion looked away

“It’s like I know you’re there,” she frowned, “but I don’t want to know.”

The Doctor took his key off and walked back over to the huddle, “And back again. See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn’t make us invisible, just unnoticed.” He grinned as he thought up a great analogy, “Oh, I know what it’s like. It’s like, it’s like when you fancy someone and they don’t even know you exist. That’s what it’s like. Come on.”

Jack glanced between Chantho and Martha, “You too, huh?” It was obvious to him that Chantho had harboured a slight crush for the Professor before… well just before and he felt sorry for Martha as well, he knew all too well how it felt to have a stupid unrequited crush on The Doctor, he just hoped she’d meet her Ianto and forget all about The Doc soon enough.

-

The Master frowned as someone thrust a phone under his nose but was quick to snatch it up as the ape said something about Torchwood. The damn fools didn’t know what was good for them obviously or they’d leave him well alone. He was on the way to meet some President or something, he did not have time to deal with them, “What?” He glowered as he got into a waiting car and was even more peeved to find that they weren’t even talking to him, they had left him a message, the apes were too cowardice to even speak to him.

 _“Saxon,”_ the voice was an unfamiliar one and sounded much too confident for his liking, _“If that even is your real name, this is your first and only warning. Whatever you’re planning, whatever you hope to achieve, it will not work. Torchwood is going to stop you,_ I _am going to stop you and if you dare to harm a single hair on the captains head I will make you wish that you had never been born. That is not a threat”_ the voice growled, _“That is a_ promise _”_ and dammit, The Master thought as the car drove him away, he admired the apes moxie, if he ever had the misfortune of meeting him he’d give him a quick death, oh alright a quick-ish death

“Lucy love” The Master tossed the phone on the seat next to him carelessly once the message was over, “Are we nearly there yet?” It didn’t take much longer to arrive at the airfield and once they did The Master put all thought of that silly little message out of his head for now as he saluted the President, “Mister President, sir.”

President Winters did not return the salute, “Mister Saxon, the British Army will stand down. From now on, UNIT has control of this operation.”

“You make it sound like an invasion.” The Master grinned

Unamused, Winters kept his expression and his tone cold, “First Contact policy was decided by the Security Council in 1968, and you’ve just gone and ignored it”

“Well, you know what it’s like.” The Master shrugged, “New job, all that paperwork. I think it’s down the back of the settee. I did have a quick look. I found a pen, a sweet, a bus ticket and er, have you met the wife?”

Winters was looking crosser by the second and The Master was loving it, “Mister Saxon, I’m not sure what your game is but there are provisions at the United Nations to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful. Is that understood? Are you taking this seriously? To business. We’ve accessed your files on these Toclafane.”

“Oh” The master faked his surprise as if he didn’t have spies everywhere telling him anything he could possibly wish to know

“First Contact cannot take place on any sovereign soil. To that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is en route. The rendezvous will take place there at eight am.” He glared as The Master yawned, “You’re trying my patience, sir.”

“So America is completely in charge?” The Master asked

“Since Britain elected an ass, yes.” Winters looked pleased with himself at the barb and The Master had to wonder how long the stupid ape had spent thinking it up, “I’ll see you onboard the Valiant.”

“It still will be televised, though, won’t it?” He couldn’t resist winding the man up some more, “Because I promised, and the whole world is watching”

“Since it’s too late to pull out, the world will be watching” Winters told him, “But they will be watching _me_ ” and with that he walked off feeling very self important

The Master watched him go, “The last President of America. We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour. My darling.” Lucy left with her security guard and The Master turned to look at something nobody else could see, interrupted only by a police van arriving. Visibly overjoyed the master ran over and watched gleefully as Clive and Francine were bundled out, “Ha ha ha! Hi, guys!”

“You can’t just do this” Clive grunted as he was unceremoniously pushed into a differnt car

“All will be revealed.” The Master chortled as less than fifty feet away Jack was restraining Martha so she didn’t go running to her family

“Let me go” she was struggling against Jack to get free but the man had a strong hold on her

Chantho watched with wide eyes as Martha’s family were treated with so cruelly, “Chan, what can we do, tho?”

The Doctor watch on, unable to do anything to help, “Don’t move.”

“Chan, but-”

The Doctor cut her off, repeating himself as the car drove away, “Don’t.”

“I’m going to kill him.” Martha swore as she went still in Jack’s arms, letting the man comfort her even as she plotted murder

Jack had to agree, “What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?” He would do it too, wouldn’t even flinch

The Doctor however, seemed to have a problem with it, “Now that sounds like Torchwood.”

“Still a good plan.” Jack told him, unfazed. If The Doc still had a problem with Torchwood that was _his_ problem, Jack had moulded it into something he could be proud of and he wasn’t going to let anyone, not even The Doctor, take that away from him.

“He’s a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility. I’m not here to kill him” The Doctor told them very clearly, “I’m here to save him”

Whatever, Jack thought, let The Doc worry about the psychopath timelord, he was only here to stop an alien invasion and get some answers, “Aircraft carrier Valiant” he changed the subject, “It’s a UNIT ship at fifty eight point two north, ten point oh two east”

“How do we get on board?” Martha asked

The Doctor looked around thoughtfully before nodding at Jack’s wrist, “Does that thing work as a teleport?”

“Since you revamped it?” He quirked an eyebrow, “Yeah. Coordinates set.” And off they went

-

Ianto sat shrouded in darkness, surrounded by the sleeping UNIT team and had to wonder if he had made a mistake calling attention to himself by threatening Saxon. He had originally done it to try and cause a distraction, to get Saxons attention off Jack for a moment but what if he had only made things worse? Had he drawn attention to Tosh and Owen who were still in the hub? Were the UNIT team he was surrounded by at this very second Saxons spies? Had he put Gwen in danger by letting his love for Jack cloud his judgement?

“Ianto? Psst, Ianto are you still awake?” Gwen whispered into the darkness and Ianto had to roll his eyes, trust Gwen to interrupt his brooding

“Yeah” he whispered back, “You’re supposed to be asleep”

“I could say the same for you” Gwen waited a second before asking, “Come outside a minute?” She didn’t know who was listening and Ianto seemed to be on the same page as he followed her out into the icy night, “You’re worrying about the message you sent, aren’t you?” She cut right to the chase as she pulled her blanket tightly around her

“Yeah” Ianto scrubbed a hand over his face, he didn’t like being open, or showing weakness or generally relying on anyone who weren’t himself or Jack but Gwen had seen him at one of his lowest points and hadn’t batted an eye. He needed to learn to trust her if they were ever going to work together effectively, “What if… what if I made a mistake?”

Gwen for her part didn’t let on how pleased she was that he was opening up to her, “A mistake? Are you kidding?!” She nudged his shoulder affectionately, “Ianto you sounded downright scary, completely badass. Saxon will be shaking in his boots”

“But what if he isn’t?” Ianto pressed, “I could have blown Owen and Toshiko’s cover, maybe now Saxon knows someone within Torchwood really cares about Jack he can use that to his advantage?”

“Ianto,” Gwen put a hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, “Everything is going to be fine, you know Jack. He’s survived through so much worse, he can’t die”

“But what if he does? He doesn’t know how many chances he’s got and it still _hurts_ Gwen” Ianto took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, “He still… feels it, he still dies and- and I can’t do anything about it. I’m stuck here just knowing he’s in danger, knowing that he’s going to get hurt and I can’t do anything about it”

Gwen just rubbed his arm, trying to sooth him even if she was a little in awe of the devotion he had for Jack, “You really love him, don’t you?”

Ianto looked at her for a long moment, it was pretty dark so he couldn’t make out many of her features but he was suddenly struck with just how young Gwen was, he himself had been through so much by the time he was her age, felt like he had lived lifetimes but Gwen… she was just so different to him, her shoulders so light with no mammoth burdens to carry. He wasn’t saying she didn’t know struggle but she really did have no idea what lengths he had gone and will continue to go for love, “I fought for him, I still fight for him. Everyday.” He told her, “No matter how much my head told me that it was wrong, my heart wouldn’t listen. I am not a man of many words as I’m sure you can attest to but in short Jackson is everything to me, I have loved him longer than I care to remember and,” he chuckled to himself, “will continue to do so as long as he lets me. So yes Gwen, I really do love him” he just hoped he was alright, wherever he was because if for whatever reason he wasn’t, then Ianto didn’t want to know what he would do.


	15. Nap Time is Essential

Safely aboard the Valiant, hiding out in the engine room, Martha clutched her stomach feeling rather nauseous, “Oh, that thing is rough.” While teleporting was objectively cool it didn’t half churn the stomach

“I’ve had worse nights” Jack cricked his neck, “Welcome to the Valiant.”

Martha walked over to one of the windows and frowned, “It’s dawn? Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where’s the sea?”

“A ship for the twenty first century,” Jack told her, the Valiant was effectively a cloud base, with three landing strips and a helipad, “protecting the skies of planet Earth”

“Chan, is it safe, tho?” Chantho asked, “Chan, is he here, tho?”

“Safest place on Earth” The Doctor promised, “And he’s here, that means he’s not going to blow the place up, at least while he’s on board”

Jack shot him a glare when Chantho let out a worried noise, “Reassuring much?” The Doctor looked chastised and led the way down a corridor and Martha was pretty sure he had no idea where it went but followed anyway. It’s not like she had a better plan.

On the main flight deck a voice was speaking over a tannoy as Lucy and the Master arrived in the lift, “Europe now online. Awaiting confirmation from South America. And keep tracking Japan.”

Winters was already there, throwing his weight about, harassing some poor woman, “I want the whole thing branded in my suit of office, not the UN. You got that?”

“This material is being transmitted prior to transmission.” The woman told him, blushing when Saxon came wondering over with his charming smile

“Anything I can do? I could make the tea, or isn’t that American enough? I don’t know, I could make grits. What are grits, anyway?” The woman giggled as she was dismissed and Winters barely held back the icy glare he so desperately wanted to give

“If you could just sit.” He said pointedly before walking away with a huff

The Master rolled his eyes at the ape as he led Lucy back towards their seats, “Misery guts. What do you think? It’s good, isn’t it?” He waved his free arm around the room

“It’s beautiful.” Lucy agreed

“Some of my best work. Ministry of Defence.” The Master told her smugly, “I helped design this place. Every detail.”

-

“We’ve got a message from Ianto” Tosh shouted over her shoulder as she read over it twice to be sure she had understood

Owen, who had been asleep on the sofa, jerked upright and rubbed his eyes, “Wha?” He had been on his feet for almost 30 hours, was it too much to ask for a kip?

“It’s about Jack, and Saxon” Tosh span around in her chair to make sure he was listening, “He says he’s sent him a warning and to keep the hub on lockdown for a while incase Saxon sends some UNIT soldiers to come snooping. That Jack’s safe for now but he’s going to keep an eye on it”

“Yeah, kay” Owen yawned, “Dianne’s in one of the recovery rooms asleep, I think… you gonna bring your girlfriend in?”

Tosh dithered for a second before shaking her head “Not yet, we still don’t know if Saxon has anything dangerous planned and Beth’s safer right now at home”

Owen flopped back down on the sofa and gave Tosh a thumbs up, “Initiate lockdown then, Ianto kept the freezer stocked with provisions, the paranoid bugger”

“Is it paranoia if we’re going to use it?” Tosh asked as she started lockdown procedures, looking over her shoulder when Owen didn’t reply to see him fast asleep again. She wasn’t even surprised.

-

It wasn’t Jack’s most graceful moment when he ran straight into the back of The Doctor, who had frozen mid-stride, and landed painfully on his arse. That was going to bruise, “Hey!” He groaned as Chantho helped him to his feet, “We’ve no time for sightseeing.”

“No, wait. Shush, shush, shush, shush.” The Doctor put his finger to his lips, “Can’t you hear it?”

Jack humoured him and cocked his head to one side while Martha and Chantho looked at them both like they were mad, “Chan, hear what, tho?”

“Doctor, my family’s on board.” Martha tried to get him to concentrate

The Doctor just clicked his fingers and changed direction though, “Brilliant. This way.” He led them down a gangway and opened a partially hidden door at the end of it, “Oh, at last!”

Smiling for real, Martha was this close to punching the air in joy, “Oh, yes!” They had the Tardis back

“What’s it doing on the Valiant?” Jack asked as he drank in his fill of the blue box, oh how he had dreamt of stepping back aboard of the Tardis for so many years, right now though the only place he wanted it to take him was home.

“Does it matter?” Martha laughed as she followed The Doctor inside only to almost back out again immediately, “What?”

“Chan, I do not understand, tho” Chantho was looking around the Tardis in confusion, “Chan, is something wrong, tho?”

Jack felt sick as he looked at the metal grating surrounding the console, The Doctor had told him once before that the Tardis was sentient and right now she looked like she was in immense pain, “What the hell’s he done?”

“Don’t touch it.” The Doctor warned him as Jack took a step too close

He wasn’t an idiot, “I’m not going to.”

“What’s he done though?” Martha listened carefully, “Sounds like it’s sick.”

The Doctor shook his head, almost frantically, “It can’t be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can’t be.”

“Chan, what is it, tho?” Chantho asked as a tear escaped her eye, the sad song in her head too much to bare

The Doctor looked like he could hear it too, “He’s cannibalised the Tardis.”

The Brecon Beacons, the silo of the futurekind and now the Master and the Tardis, it seemed to Jack as if he would never truly escape cannibalism, “Is this what I think it is?” He asked instead

“Yes,” The Doctor grieved, “It’s a paradox machine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter today, another story sort of got in the way of this one for a little bit so sorry about the wait between chapters, the new idea just wouldnt stop buzzing about the old think tank! Should be back to regular posting now :)


	16. The Ugly Side

The Doctor tapped a gauge on the metal mesh around the console with a mournful look on his face, “As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it’ll trigger at two minutes past eight.”

“First contact is at eight, then two minutes later...” Jack furrowed his brow as he tried to put the pieces together, what the hell was The Master up to?

Martha was thinking along the same lines, they just didn’t have enough information, “What’s it for? What does a paradox machine do?”

“More importantly,” Jack cut in, “Can you stop it?”

The Doctor shook his head, “Not till I know what it’s doing. Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system.”

“Chan, then we must get to the prof- the master before it is too late, tho” Chantho may not understand what was going on better than any of them but she knew it all boiled down to him

Jack put an arm around her, “Yeah” she was clearly shaken up but they didn’t have time for a breakdown right now, she just needed to last a little while longer, “How are we going to stop him?”

“Oh, I’ve got a way” The Doctor cocked his head to the side almost smugly, “Sorry, didn’t I mention it?”

-

Ianto slammed his open palm against the side of the old school TV that closely resembled the one he used to own back in number 3 Roseman Drive, “Daft old thing, come on” he groaned as Gwen watched nervously from behind him, first contact was in a few minutes and they were both anxious to see what was going to happen. 

Owen and Tosh had put the hub into lockdown as far as Ianto was aware so he wasn’t too worried about their safety, him and Gwen on the other hand were still surrounded and outnumbered by suspicious UNIT soldiers. Ianto could only hope that in the event of an emergency he could trust Gwen to have his back, “Need some help sir?” That was Abbot, looking like a mournful little puppy begging for praise

“No, I’ve got it” Ianto gave it one last hit and grinned to himself when the screen lit up, the tried and tested welsh method of turning it off and on again, then smacking it till it worked was successful once again, “Budge over would you Gwen?” he asked before settled down next to her on the sofa to watch

The woman on the screen was addressing them, “-And in just thirty seconds’ time, we’ll be going live to First Contact. It’s been announced that Harold Saxon has invited President Winters to take the address.”

“Here we go” Gwen clutched his arm unconsciously as Ianto didn’t have the heart to shake her off as Winters appeared on their screen. Ianto split his attenion between listening to him and watching their escorts reactions to what was being said, Smith and Thompson were giving off a vibe he wasn’t sure he liked all too much. Ianto was sure to keep his gun within reach and had advised Gwen to do the same.

“My fellow Americans, patriots, people of the world. I stand before you today as ambassador for humanity, a role I will undertake with the utmost solemnity. Perhaps our Toclafane cousins can offer us much, but what is important is not that we gain material benefits, but that we learn to see ourselves anew.” Winters addressed the globe, “For as long as man has looked at the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone.”

Unseen by the camera’s, Jack whispered to the Doctor, “This plan, you going to tell us?”

“No longer unique in the universe” Winters carried on, the whole world watching

The Doctor finally let them in on his plan, “If I can get this around the Master’s neck, cancel out his perception, they’ll see him for real. It’s just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me you’ve got a key.”

Back in the cabin, Ianto felt a terrible feeling of dread roll over him as he watched Winters smile on the screen, “Something is wrong” he whispered to Gwen, “Can’t you feel it?” She shook her head slowly

“And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane.” Four spheres appeared on screen and Ianto very nearly threw up, “My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon.”

“You’re not the Master.” The first sphere told him

“We like the Mister Master.” The second one added

The world watched as the Third addressed the president, “We don’t like you.”

“Gwen, something is wrong” Ianto hissed, his grip on his gun tight as he watched the UNIT soldiers closely, Smith and Thompson looked almost excited and Gwen finally clued in, “Just… be ready”

Winters looked confused on their screen, “I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God’s will.”

“Man is stupid.” The Second sphere taunted him

“Master is our friend.” The first one droned as it floated above his head

“Where’s my Master, pretty please?” Another pleaded and Ianto actually retched when the camera panned round to Saxon

“Oh, all right then. It’s me. Ta da!” He got to his feet, grinning, “Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don’t know. It’s crazy.”

Winters looked like he was three seconds away from an animism, “Saxon, what are you talking about?”

“I’m taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you” Ianto felt his stomach drop as Saxon gave the order, “Kill him” Doing as they were told a sphere pointed its weapon at Winters and blasted him into little pieces live on TV, the world watched as the president was brutally murdered while Saxon laughed and applauded, calling on his guards when the security team aimed their guns at him. 

“Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully.” Saxon grinned manically at them and Ianto shivered, the look in his eye was that of a madman. His discomfort didn’t last for long though as a man made a mad dash for Saxon only to be caught by the guards

“Oh my god” Gwen watched with horror as the events unfolded right in front of them, “Ianto, what do we do?” She whispered but Ianto had no answer to give her, they were powerless

“We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho. I love saying that.” Saxon seemed to forget he was on TV as he taunted his… friend? Enemy? Ianto wasn’t completely sure

“Stop it! Stop it now!” The man, the doctor, (Jack’s doctor?) begged and Ianto felt another wave of dread, this one more intense, crash into him. If this was the Jacks doctor, where the hell was Jack?

“As if a perception filter’s going to work on me.” Saxon rolled his eyes, “And look, it’s the girlie, the traitorous bug and the freak. Although, I’m not sure which one’s which.”

Ianto was powerless to stop it as he watched Jack run onto the screen, his heart leapt to his throat as he watched Saxon raise some sort of weapon and he threw himself in front of the screen when Jack collapsed, “No!” Ianto watched with horror as his lover died right in front of him on the screen, begging it not to be true. What if Jack’s doctor had made him mortal? What if Jack was dead for good? No, no, no this couldn’t be happening

“Hey” Smith snarled, pulling him back by his shoulder and Ianto didn’t think, he drew his gun and shot the bastard in his thigh. Kicking his gun away from him as Gwen held the rest at gunpoint, “What the hell?!”

“Laser screwdriver. Who’d have sonic?” Saxons voice was still sounding out from the TV behind him as Ianto glared at the UNIT soldiers in front of him, “And the good thing is, he’s not dead for long. I get to kill him again!” How long had they known this was going to happen? For all he knew they could be under orders to kill them at any moment

“Stay down if you value your life” Ianto growled as The Doctor begged on the TV behind him

“Master, just calm down. Just look at what you’re doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself”

“Oh, do excuse me” Saxon finally addressed them again, “Little bit of personal business. Back in a tick” And the screen went blank

“Ianto, What do we do?” Gwen asked again, gun pointed at the UNIT soldiers unwaveringly

He didn’t really have a plan but figured they could wing it for a while before inspiration struck, “You,” he glared at Smith was was slowly bleeding out, “You’re working for Saxon?”

Smith just grinned at him smugly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”

Not in the mood for games, Ianto unleashed an ugly side of himself that hadn't seen the light of day since the war, he grabbed Smith by the hair and pulled hard as he stomped heavily on he mans wounded thigh, “Listen to me carefully” he snarled into his ear as the man whined pathetically, “I could cause you a world full of pain to get the information I want, I have friends watching your family, I have agents just waiting to indulge in their blood lust, I don’t care what happens to you but unless you want Amelia’s pretty face smashed in you will tell me what I want to know” he was of course lying through his teeth, he had no one watching this mans family, he wasn’t even sure if Amelia was his wife’s name but Smith didn’t know that

“Okay, okay, just don’t hurt them!” Smith whimpered as Ianto released his hold on his hair, “Saxon approached me after I was selected for this mission, offered me a shit ton of money if I took you out. Thompson too! He took the deal as well!” Smith ratted out his only friend and Gwen trained her gun on him

“You little snitch!” Thompson lunged at him but Gwen proved to be an excellent shot as she got him in the lower leg, effectively crippling him for the time being

Ianto daren’t meet her eyes though as he bound the two would be assassins, he didn’t want to see the look of horror in her eyes now that she had seen such a horrible, ugly side of him, “You three,” Ianto addressed Abbot, Wilkinson and Rayner who all looked terrified of him, “Unless you want to end up like your friends here you are going to do exactly what I say, you got it? I just saw my commanding officer shot down on live TV and my trigger finger is just itching so do not toe the line if you want to live” later he would be disgusted with himself for the actions he took in this moment of weakness but right then he was beyond caring, he had a job to do and he would do whatever it took to finish it.


	17. Down You Go Kids

“Shit, shit shit, was that Jack?” Owen gripped Toshiko’s computer monitor that they had been watching the first contact broadcast on along with the rest of the world. 

It said a lot about the situation that Tosh didn’t scold him for manhandling her equipment, “Oh god,” she raised a hand to her mouth in shock, “This is worse than we thought, who knows what he’ll do next”

Owen pushed away from her desk and kicked his chair away angrily, “Fuck Tosh, that psycho just killed Winters and Jack on live TV, we have to secure lockdown, we can’t let those things get in here”

“I need to call Beth” Tosh grabbed her phone with shaking hands and hurried over to the cog door, shouting over her shoulder for Owen to wait for her to get back. The last thing she wanted to do was bring Beth into this part of her life but if it was between risking her life or saving her, Tosh didn’t really have choice, not one she had to think about anyway.

“Beth?” Tosh breathed out a sigh of relief when her girlfriend answered her phone, “Listen to me, are you at work? I’m coming to pick you up”

“What? What are you on about Toshiko?”

Pulling out of the underground parking, Toshiko sighed and prayed everything would work out okay, “Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do babe” Beth laughed nervously down the line and Tosh felt her heart pound in her chest, “I’ll be waiting in the lobby for you when you get here, promise me you’re alright? You sound scared”

“I’m terrified” Tosh gulped, “Just… Just wait for me and I’ll explain everything”

“Okay” Beth agreed and Tosh felt a weight lift off her shoulders, “I love you”

“Love you too” everything would be fine, Tosh told herself as she drove almsot as recklessly as Jack, it had to be because she didn’t know what she’d do if it wasn’t.

-

Back aboard the valiant The Doctor had managed to get The Master talking, the longer he babbled on the longer The Doctor had to try and come up with a plan, “Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device?” The Master laughed, gesturing at Martha, “What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I’ve been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, ooo, if I only had the Doctor’s biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do.” He preened as he practically skipped over to a large metal briefcase someone had put on the table while all this was happening

Martha gasped and whispered under her breath as she managed to reach Jack’s dead body, “That’s-”

“I’ve got his hand” The Master grinned, “And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?” He aimed his screwdriver at The Doctor and Chantho watched with growing horror as the man started convulsing rapidly, only snapped out of it when she heard Jack gasp back to life

“Martha” Jack revived next to her and locked eyes with Chantho who slowly creeped over, “Teleport, both of you”

Martha shook her head, “I can’t, my-”

“We can’t stop him.” Jack pressed his Vortex Manipulator into her hands and nodded at Chantho, “Get out of here. Both of you, get out.”

Before Martha could argue further, The Master stopped zapping The Doctor who fell to the ground looking frail and aged, “Chan, Doctor, tho” Chantho hurried to the mans side, he had saved her life and now he was in pain, she was indebted to him but couldn’t do anything to help

“Doctor?” Martha stopped arguing with Jack and hurried over as well, “I’ve got you”

The Master tilted his head to one side condescendingly,”Aw” he said patronisingly, “She’s a would be _doctor._ But tonight, Martha Jones, we’ve flown them in all the way from prison.” He switched from belittling to pure evil with a snap of the fingers, smirking as Martha’s family were brought in with their wrists tied together with cable ties, “Look who it is”

Half furious, half terrified, Martha choked out, “Mum.” As the guards manhandled them

“I’m sorry.” Francine apologised and it only stoked the fire raging behind Martha’s eyes, she might not be able to do anything now but mark her words, she was going to make The Master pay for this.

“The Toclafane. What are they?” The Doctor wheezed as more appeared around The Master, “Who are they?”

The Master shook his head with faux sorrow, “Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break.”

“Is it time? Is it ready?” One asked

“Is the machine singing?” Another followed

The Master checked his watch and grinned, “Two minutes past. So, Earthlings” he looked around the people onboard the ship, “Basically, er, end of the world. Here come the drums!”

If the situation were less world ending, Jack would have rolled his eyes at The Masters dramatics, a familiar song started playing, clearly meant to be some sort of pun he didn’t quite understand. Only a psychopath danced around to ‘Voodoo Child’ as he destroyed the planet. Unable to do anything, Jack lay on the floor as the paradox machine in the Tardis activated, just watching Chantho and Martha as a tear appeared in they sky allowing thousands of spheres to pour out. 

He was too weak to be of any help to them, if they were going to escape they didn’t need to be held back by him. His little stunt with Abaddon had drained him more than he thought and dying three times in the last few hours had knocked him for six. There was no way he was leaving with them, besides someone needed to protect Martha’s family and as he looked at the now ancient Doctor he knew it wouldn’t be him.

“How many do you think?” The Master asked as he dragged Lucy over to a window to watch the hell he had unleashed upon the Earth

Breathless, Lucy shook her head, “I, I don’t know.”

“Six billion” The Master boasted proudly, “Down you go, kids!” The spheres targeted the largely populated areas and opened fire, “Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. A nice word, decimate.” The Master announced the order, “Remove one tenth of the population!”

The Master turned back to The Doctor, expecting to see rage, sadness, maybe tears or even an attempt to stop him and was annoyed to see him whispering something to the bug and his little girlie friend. Annoyance soon turned to anger as he watched them move away from The Doctor holding that nasty Vortex Manipulator

_“Valiant, this is Geneva. We’re getting slaughtered down here.”_

_“Valiant, report. Help us. For God’s sake, help us! They’re everywhere!”_

_“This is London, Valiant. This is London calling. What do we do? They’re killing us! The Toclafane are all around. They’re killing us.”_

Their cries for help were tainted by The Doctors friends escape though, The Master thought bitterly as he watched them teleport away. He glared as The Doctor and the freak nodded at each other, they wouldn’t be free for long. Nothing was going to stop him, not The Doctor, not the bug, not the stupid ape from Torchwood that had tried to threaten him and certainly not Martha Jones.

The Master had Lucy help him prop The Doctor up with them at the window so they could watch the slaughter together as his guards dragged the freak off and smiled at the one sided massacre, “And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good.”

-

Owen was pacing nervously as he watched the CCTV for any sign of Toshiko, she needed to get her arse back right now, “She will be fine” Dianne rubbed his back as she too watched the screen, looking for any sign of her, “Tosh is a strong woman, she will get back in time”

“The sky has opened up” Owen ran a hand through his hair as he seriously considered locking the hub down for good, he would hate himself for trapping Toshiko outside as hell literally rained down from above but he had to think about Dianne and the baby. He didn’t want to choose between them but-

“There!” Dianne pointed at the screen where Toshiko’s car was tearing down the road, “She’s coming”

“Yeah but she’s got friends” Owen shook his head as he saw the flying death spheres on her tail, shooting at her car, “Stay here”

Unhappy at being told what to do, Dianne crossed her arms as best she could over her severely pregnant stomach, “Where are you going?”

“Tosh is going to need backup” Owen unlocked the armoury and pulled out the biggest gun they had, Jack had called it something stupid like Harriet, “And no, you can’t come with. Baby” he pointed at her stomach, “Please just stay put, please?”

“Fine, but once they’re born you won’t stop me so easily” Dianne relented

Owen pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and winked, “Wouldn’t dream of it” stroking her middle one last time, Owen stormed off to the underground parking where Tosh would be bursting through in a few minutes with ‘Harriet’ slung over his shoulder. He’d blow the fuckers up if they came anywhere near the woman he loved.

-

“Gwen, down!’ Ianto shouted as he saw something hurtling in their direction through window, dropping to his knee, gun pointed at the glass as the cluster of four spheres flew towards the cabin, he took a shot. The glass shattered but the bullet simply pinged off the metal, “Fuck!” He dived for his bag as the first of the four spheres flew through the window

Gwen watched with horror as the sphere ejected knives from its sides and descended on Smith who had no way of defending himself, just as the first knife was about to slice into him she saw Ianto out of the corner of her eye as he pulled something out of his bag. The next thing she knew the sphere was gone, disappeared in the blink of an eye, “What-?”

“Incoming, point and shoot” Ianto barked out the order and Gwen fell into line without a thought, catching the strange gun Ianto threw to her and doing exactly as he said. Her first shot missed as the rest of the spheres approached but her second hit it dead centre while Ianto took care of the remaining two

Whimpering, Smith backed up against the wall, “What the hell was that?”

“I think they’re called Toclafane” Ianto checked the charge on his gun and sighed, “More will be coming, we have to move”

“ _Move?_ Move where?!” Smith was in hysterics at this point, “We’re in the middle of fucking nowhe-” he stopped abruptly as Abbot of all people approached him and gave him a hard slap around the face

“Pull yourself together man, Agent Jones just saved your traitorous arse” he turned almost sheepishly back to Ianto and Gwen, “If Agents Cooper and Jones hadn’t of been here we’d surley be dead, bullets had no effect on those things, you saw it as clear as I did”

“Cooper and Jones” Gwen whispered, “Did you hear that?”

“We are not comedy detectives” Ianto whispered back, rembering their conversation on the plane. Still jittery from the adrenaline, Ianto turned to address the UNIT team, “Look, none of us like each other,” he looked at Smith and Thompson, “You two were going to kill us,” he tuned to the others, “And you three would probably have helped them cover it up but none of that is important right now. It doesn’t _matter_. See that?” Ianto pointed outside where thousands if not millions of Toclafane were pouring out of a crack in the sky, “It’s us against them now, Saxon has invited creatures from another world here to kill us all, we can get back to killing each other later but first we have to work together to make sure there is a later, I for one didn’t survive a war just to be killed by some sort of bloody alien _disco ball_ ”

Gwen found herself nodding along almost in awe as Ianto took charge of the situation, he was a born leader, somthing that wasn't always clear as he was also amazing at following Jack. How a man could both follow and lead like he was born to was a mystery to Gwen but she wasn’t about to question it, she would follow Ianto to hell and back. She trusted him with her life just as he trusted her, “I’m with you Ianto”

Ianto nodded at her gratefully as the UNIT soldiers echoed her sentiment, “We need to move, those things are going to be back and this needs to recharge” Ianto slipped the alien gun into the back of his trousers

“What is that exactly?” Rayner asked as he watched Gwen do the same with the spare Ianto had given her, “Alien weaponry?”

Seeing as it was the end of the world, Ianto didn’t seem the harm in telling them, “It’s a displacement gun, 38th Century tech, fell through the rift in the 20’s” 

He could remember finding out about them as if it were yesterday, walking into the archives to see Jack trying to clean up a mess he had made of some files by simply zapping them away with one of these guns, needless to say he never tried it again once Ianto had finished scolding him for it. They had been somthing of a personal favourite since and Ianto may or may not have slipped them out for this mission without permission. At least if Saxon got hold of Torchwood’s records he wouldn’t know he had them.

“How does it work?” Abbot asked

“Like I said” Ianto didn’t want to admit to not knowing the exact mechanics, “Point and shoot” he knew there was a way to input coordinates but it wasn’t easy, besides not everything that got shot ended up on the other side in one piece, “Come on” he lugged his bag over his shoulder and moved to untie Smith and Thompson, “You two try anything” he warned them, “I won’t hesitate to use you as bait, understood?”

“Yes sir” they both murmured and Gwen was once again struck by the power in his words. Ianto never once raised his voice and yet he had the UNIT soldiers falling into line, they didn’t know the half of it. She shook her head as she watched Ianto lead them out of he cabin, this man had fought Nazi’s, they _really_ didn’t want to get on his bad side.


	18. Worlds Apart

“Oh my god, what is this place?” Beth looked around the main hub with wide, disbelieving eyes, “Toshiko” she took a step closer to her and lowered her voice, “Are you in some sort of cult?”

Feeling helpless Tosh tried to explain what she could without freaking Beth out so much that she’d leave, “No, of course not, my job- I told you it’s complicated” turning to Owen for backup, Tosh prayed he would help her, “Owen?”

“Yeah, alright” Owen rolled his shoulders and walked over with a confidence he wasn’t feeling in the slightest, “Beth, isn’t it? I’m Owen, I work with Tosh” he extended a hand for her to shake, which she did if admittedly a little weakly, and decided to just get right into it, “Okay so basically we save the world from aliens,” he listed, “extraterrestrials, invaders, dangerous devices and people that fall through time and space through a sort of transdimensional tear that runs through Cardiff, well under it, sort of. It’s hard to explain.” he pulled her over to his computer where the CCTV was still playing, now showing the Toclafane causing chaos, “It’s our job to protect you from that, I’m sure you have a lot of questions for your girlfriend but right now we’re very busy trying to save the world so if you could just wait quietly over there and we’ll get back to you” he pointed to where Dianne was sitting with a pout on the beat up old sofa that Ianto had claimed to have been there even in his first few years working for Torchwood.

“O-Okay” Beth stuttered fearfully as she did what she was told, perching herself nervously on the sofa while Owen and Tosh had a hissed argument back over by the computers

She almost jumped out of her skin when the woman next to her leaned forward with a smile, “Hi”

“H-hello” Beth stuttered, feeling like an idiot when the pregnant woman smiled kindly at her, she needed to get a grip, “I’m Beth”

“I’m Dianne, don’t worry you’re completely safe here” Dianne rubbed her stomach as she spoke, “I remember when I first saw this place, try not to let it get to you”

“It’s- I don’t know what it is, a secret conspiracy cave?” She asked, “How can a huge place like this just be kept a secret? I’ve walked over it thousands of times and I never even knew it was here! My girlfriend works here, underground, fighting alien invaders and I had no idea until I was almost killed!”

“Hey!” Dianne smiled and patted her arm, “At least it was ‘almost’ right?”

Beth didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, on the one hand her girlfriend had been lying to her about working for a special police task force for months, she had almost been killed by a metal basket ball and world war three was happening right outside the underground doors. On the other though, she was alive, the woman she loved had saved her from certain death, she was in a secret underground base safe from said metal killing basket balls and even though now was not the time to be thinking about it, she had finally met some of Toshiko’s friends. 

The bottom line was things could be worse and as Beth looked over at her girlfriend who was working hard to save the world she realised there was no place she’d rather be.

-

“What about Rhys?” Gwen asked as she helped Ianto carry Smith down the mountain, Rayner and Abbot were carrying Thompson while Wilkinson watched their six for any sign of more Toclafane, “Do you think Owen and Tosh remembered to get him into the hub?”

“I’m sure they did” Ianto lied, he had no idea what was going on back in the hub, they’d lost signal hours ago but he knew keeping Gwen focused was vital, he couldn’t allow any of them to panic because it would mean the death of them, “We’ll get better connection once we reach the cable cars” there should be a first aid kit he could use to better patch up his men and- _hang on_ , Ianto nearly stopped mid step as he asked himself when he had started to think of the UNIT soldiers as _his_ men. 

It wasn’t important, what mattered was patching up Smith and Thompson. Ianto almost regretted shooting them now, sure they had plotted his and Gwen’s death but he was a bit of a stickler for the whole ‘No man left behind’ shtick, it also didn’t hurt that under dire circumstance they could be used as bait or bargaining chips. He hated to think like that but this was war and Ianto knew better than most that desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Just leave me” Smith was groaning as Ianto readjusted his hold on him, “I’m going to die anyway, might as well be here on this mountain rather than down there being cut up by one of those things”

“You’re not going to die” Ianto grunted, “If anyone’s killing you it’s me, so you’ll have to wait till I find a nice gun to do the job justice” he was clearly being sarcastic but Smiths little look of horror did lift Ianto’s spirits a little

They travelled in silence for a few more minutes before Gwen piped back up, “I hope Owen and Tosh are alright”

“They’ll be fine, Toshiko is a genius,” Ianto relaxed slightly when he heard his displacement gun beep, telling him it was recharged, “And even Owen is fairly competent” he smirked at Gwen as her gun beeped at her as well

“You never did explain what these things really do” Gwen prodded, “I mean, I know they get rid of the Toclafane but where did it go? The ones we shot?”

“It depends” Ianto sniffed as his nose began to run, great that’s just what he needs at the end of the world, a cold, “It has a few different settings, Time and Space displacement”

“Meaning?” Gwen raised her eyebrows when he didn’t elaborate further

“ _Meaning_ ” Ianto emphasised the word, “That you can either send something through time by up to half an hour or teleport it away within a certain range. They’re supposed to have a larger range but they were damaged by the rift”

“Hang on” Abbot interrupted from where he’d been eavesdropping behind them, “Sir, if what you’re saying is true then why don’t we just use it to go back and stop Saxon from opening hell?”

“Because Abbot, like it said they were damaged” Ianto shut down that idea snappish, “It’s a bit of a lottery, not all of what gets shot actually ends up on the other side. It’s limited”

Gwen deflated, “So the Toclafane we shot, they’re not dead?”

“No” Ianto was honest with her, it would do no good to lie about something that could actually get them all killed, lying for moral was fine but lying about danger was not, “We just… moved them a little”

“Through time?” Gwen persisted, “Or did we send them halfway around the world where they could potentially be killing innocent people? What if one kills a child?”

“I- I don’t…” Ianto took a deep breath and clung tightly onto what little control he had left, from the plane ride to their close encounter and the resurfacing of a side of himself that he had hoped to have buried for good after the war, Ianto was barely holding himself together, “The cable cars are this way, come on” he changed the subject and thankfully Gwen didn’t push, whether it was because she didn’t want to know or she could sense his struggle Ianto never found out but he did know that he was grateful for the respite, lord knows he was going to need it.

-

Jack looked around his new quarters, okay fine he was chained to a pipe in the engine room of the valiant, and hummed softly to himself. It had been a few days since he sent Martha and Chantho away and he was almost begging for something to happen, the solitude was killing him. He had no idea what was going on and he _hated_ being kept out of the loop, Ianto must have been rubbing off on him.

“What is that ridiculous smile about?” A voice interrupted Jack’s train of thought and once again he told himself he really should be careful what he wished for, “Oh that’s better, is that a glimmer of fear I see behind those cold eyes?”

“I’ve been assured on multiple occasions, very vocally might I add, that my eyes are one of my best features” Jack stared calculatingly at The Master as he closed the engine room door behind himself, “Why don’t you come closer and take a proper look”

The Master scoffed and kept his distance, “You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

“Well you’re the one who called me handsome” Jack grinned, “All those long drawn out phone calls while you were minister of defence, I can see you sat drooling at the sound of my voice n-”

That was the first time The Master killed him in the engine room, the first of many in fact but he wasn’t going to lose hope. 

Jack would take every blow, every bullet and every bruise because he knew Ianto would be waiting for him on the other side to make it all better. Ianto was like a fixed point in his life, an unchanging constant that would always draw him back in. If someone would have told him all those years ago in that bar that the sweet blushing young man practically hiding behind his lovely female companion would one day become the entire reason of his existence, he would have had them admitted but now… well, it might not make much sense to him but he knew it was true with every fibre of his being.

They would survive this, together, even if they were what felt like worlds apart. Ianto hadn’t let a war of global scales stand between them once already, Jack couldn’t imagine a world where the man he loved wouldn’t face those odds again.


	19. Fuck him up Good

Dianne glared at the familiar stone ceiling and huffed out an annoyed sigh, it had been a whole month since the world pretty much ended and she was sick of it, she was overdue, grouchy and experiencing the worst case of cabin fever imaginable. The only saving grace of the situation was Owen, he could so easily rise to her bait or leave her to wallow by herself but instead her stupid, brilliant man stuck by her and promised to make everything better, “Hey, how are you feeling?” He whispered as he slipped into the room under cover of darkness

“Bloated, itchy and crabby, the usual” Dianne smiled despite it all and turned over to get a better look at him, “Turn the light on”

“Uh, you should probably get some more rest” he argued

Red flag detected, Dianne sat up and raised an eyebrow at the darkness, “Owen Harper, what have you done this time?”

“Nothing!” Owen squeaked before sighing and flicking the light on, “It’s just a little-”

“Oh my god, are you alright?!” Dianne gasped with horror as she saw the mess that used to be a very handsome face, Owen’s entire face was covered in cuts and bandages, it looked like someone had taken a cheese grater and scrubbed it across his skin viciously, “You went outside didn’t you?” She demanded angrily, “I told you not to”

“I know” Owen swallowed past the lump in his throat, he knew he looked like a complete mess, he was hideous and would likely be scarred for the rest of his life, “I’m so sorry, there was a kid, he was running across the plass- I- I couldn’t just watch as they slaughtered him, I had to try”

“Come here” Dianne sniffed, pulling him into bed so she could cradle him as he cried softly, “I love you no matter what, you know that don’t you? Our son is so lucky to have you as his father”

“No-”

“Yes” she insisted, pressing soft kisses to whatever skin she could find on his face that wasn’t covered by blood and bandages, “You’re brave, kind, smart, funny and adorably grouchy. I love you Owen Harper and nothing will change that. Ever”

“I don’t know how much more of this we can take” he mumbled, “We received a message from Martha Jones, Nightingale she’s calling herself...”

“And” Dianne prompted, knowing it was important if Owen brought it up when he was this distressed, “What did she want?”

Owen looked up at her with his one unmanaged eye and choked out a single word, “Help”

-

Martha was picking at the dirt under her nails when Chantho hurried into the room they were squatting in, today it was France, tomorrow it could be anywhere, “Did you find anyone?” She asked, the whole capitol had looked deserted when they crept through in the cover of night and she feared they might not find anyone to tell their story to before they were pushed to leave again

“Chan, I found a camp, tho” Chantho forced a smile as she crouched down next to Martha in front of the small fire she had built, “Chan, they are willing to listen tonight, tho”

“Good” Martha looked out of the smashed window up at the sky and wondered where her family were, she believed in The Doctors plan but it didn’t ease her conscience knowing her own mother, father and sister were likely being tortured by a madman as they spoke, “Let’s get to work”

-

Ianto raised his stolen gun and pointed it at the door, “Stop right there” he warned, “Go back to your bedroll and I swear Smith if you move one fucking inch I will blow your brains out, yeah?” Smith swore and did as he was told, the idiot tried to escape every night and Ianto was sorely tempted to let him but he knew if it came down to a fight he was going to need the numbers, even if one of them was a traitorous idiot. Thompson had fallen into line with the others when threatened but Smith seemed determined to make Ianto kill him. Maybe he truly did have a death wish… tough, Ianto was going to keep him alive just to spite him in that case.

“What are you still doing up?” Gwen asked from her spot next to him once Smith had slunk away

“I could ask you the same thing” Ianto shot back without looking at her

Gwen huffed and kicked him none too gently, “I asked you first”

Glaring at the wall infront of him, Ianto shrugged, “I’m worried” he whispered back, waiting a long time, letting the silence and darkness wash over them in equal measures before asking, “Do you think Tosh remembered to feed my tortoises?”

Gwen couldn’t tell if he was being serious, “Really?” 

“No” Ianto rolled his eyes, “Come on Gwen”

“Well why are you still up then? I’d let Smith sneak off and get himself killed if that’s what he wants” she hissed, “We should have left him on the mountain”

The mountain, Ianto thought back over the last month and fought back a sigh, if he would have known climbing down a mountain which two injured soldiers whilst being on the run from flying death machines would be easy compared to the shit he was facing now, he would have just stayed there. He wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened but somehow he had taken charge of the UNIT soldiers and taken on the mantle of leader with Gwen as his second. They had reached the bottom of the mountain, used the displacement guns on a couple more Toclafane and stole a car. Gwen had driven them while he worked on the two idiot soldiers in the back.

He had saved their lives, Thompson seemed to take the debt seriously and had sworn himself to Ianto’s service but Smith was still acting like a dick. They had stowed away on a ship and disembarked in Yemen of all places. Gwen found it a little funny, said it was a joke on some TV show he’d missed with his rift travels but Ianto didn’t really care. He needed to get them back to Cardiff, back to the hub so he could regroup with Owen and Tosh. They would know where the valiant was and therefore where he could find and rescue Jack. He had allowed his lover to be captured and tortured once before while he unwittingly sat at home pouting once he returned form the war, he wasn’t about the make the same mistake twice. He was going to get Jack just like his lover would do for him.

“We need Smith” Ianto argued, “Would you rather it be Rayner or Abbot cut down by one of those things? I hate keeping him around as an expendable but this is a numbers game Gwen, the bigger army almost always wins, we need every able body we can get on our side if we want to stand a chance” 

“You’re right” Gwen conceded, “You’re always right”

“No” Ianto told her sternly, turning so he could make sure she was listening carefully, “Nobody is always right, believing you know best, that you can do no wrong, is what makes people into monsters. Promise me” he begged her, “Promise me if I lose sight of right and wrong that you will call me on it. Men who think they can do no wrong will go to extortionate lengths to prove it”

“Yeah, I promise” Gwen looked him dead in the eye as she nodded, “I promise Ianto”

“Good” Ianto rubbed his eyes, “You should get some more sleep, we’ve got a long walk tomorrow”

“You too then” Gwen insisted as she settled back down with a yawn, “This is me calling you out, you can’t go three days with no sleep, you need to rest”

“Oh I am _so_ going to regret this” Ianto rolled his eyes as he did what he was told, Gwen was right, he was exhausted. Looking out of the window Ianto gazed up at the sky and wondered if Jack was up there looking back.

-

Jack had taken to belting out show tunes to amuse himself as of late, The Master didn’t like being near him for long periods of time, said he made his skin crawl, but Jack would be dammed if he let the solitude get to him. He was halfway through ‘Ya got trouble’ when Tish arrived with his meagre dinner portions, “Hello beautiful, how are you today?” He flirted, pleased when Tish spared him a quick smile, they were trying to organise a take over but it was slow work, “Oh, delicious, watery cabbage again” he enthused sarcastically

He supposed he should be thankful he was getting food at all, he wondered how long it would take before The Master thought of starving him instead of simply shooting him in the head. For a psychotic mass murdering villain he really wasn’t that inventive when it came to torture, not that Jack was complaining mind you. In fact every time The Master came down in a rage to shoot him it almost uplifted Jack’s spirts since he only did it when someone down below was being a thorn in his side. He wondered if it was Martha and Chantho, or maybe it was his team, perhaps it was even Ianto. He could totally see him leading a rebellion, wearing a sexy uniform with-

“Hello Freak” right on time, “Miss me?”

“Don’t you know it” Jack smirked as The Master raised his gun, “Come on then, let’s get this over with”

“Oh no, actually today we’re going to slow things down a little, why don’t we start here?” The Master lowered the gun and aimed for Jack’s stomach, firing off a shot without blinking, “Now the real question is do I let you bleed out first or do the announcement now” Doubled over in pain, Jack was barely listening. He was only half conscious as the guards lugged him out of the engine room up to the main deck that he hadn’t seen since that fateful morning everything started. 

He came back to himself a bit when the guards dumped him on the floor though, The Master was preening like a peacock as camera’s were pointed at him and Jack had a horrible feeling something very bad was about to happen, “Hello and welcome my loyal subjects, it had come to my attention that some of you are aiding a futile resistance attempt and I thought I would take the time out of my very busy schedule to show you what happens when you try and fight against me” The Master gestured for the guards to haul Jack to his feet and aimed his gun at him again, “Do you have anything to say to the people watching?” The Master smirked, “Before I kill you again that is?”

Jack looked right down the lens and drew upon all the happiness he had left to conjure up a smile despite the pain, “Fuck him up good baby” he barely had time to enjoy the disgusted expression on The Masters face before he was dead again, it was worth it though. He hoped that if Ianto was somewhere out there watching the broadcast that he would use his message as fuel to keep going instead of feeling beaten down by his temporary death.


	20. Incoming

Tosh watched wearily as Owen navigated his way around the hub, tripping over every so often as he tried to get used to seeing with one eye. It didn’t help that the place was even more of a tip than usual but seeing as it was the end of civilisation as they knew it, the Torchwood team (or rather the remains of it) was a little too busy trying to claw their way of life back from an evil alien dictator to wash the dishes at the moment, “Everything alright Owen?” Tosh called out softly as she watched him accidentally bump into his desk

“Peachy” he bit back sarcastically before she watched him let out a sigh and shake his head, “Sorry Tosh, I don’t mean to… have you any word from Ianto and Gwen?”

Tosh checked her systems for the tenth time that hour and was yet again disappointed, “Radio silence” the last she had heard from Ianto he had taken charge of the UNIT team and was trying to make his way back to Cardiff with Gwen. He had fallen off the radar a few days ago, last known location being somewhere along the Turkish boarder and she was starting to fear the worst

“Dammit” Owen seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he slammed his fist down on the desk, “He deserves better than this, we all do” He had no idea how Ianto had coped with his life, from being raised through one war and fighting in another, being ripped from his time and dumped in the future, being dragged back again, freezing himself for over almost a century- Owen could barely wrap his head around it on the best of days but after living in hell for what felt like eternity but couldn’t have been more than a couple of months, it was safe to say that he had a new found respect for the man. It was one thing to think you understood war and it was another to witness it first hand.

Except this wasn’t a war, this was a one sided massacre and dammit, Ianto deserved better than to die a meaningless death in some foreign country all alone, they all did.

“I know,” Tosh agreed, her eyes darting back to her screen when a notification sounded

Owen hurried over as well, stumbling slightly in his haste but no less determined than he had been before, “Is that him?”

“No, its Nightingale and the Blue Lady” Tosh used their codenames even now, better to get into the habit than risk using real ones where they could actually be heard, “They need assistance with transportation in France, requesting access to our secure channels”

“Jacque should be able to help them right?” Owen asked as he sat down next to her, just as Saxon had his network they had theirs, a way to communicate with other resistance fighters across the world, safe from bugs and interception thanks to a little computer magic from Tosh, carried by the mainframe. Owen didn’t insult Tosh’s intelligence by pretending to understand it but he was glad it worked, “You should give them a heads up that the patrols have been increasing in that area as w-” he stopped suddenly and cocked his head to one side, “Can you hear that?” 

Tosh listened carefully and looked back at Owen with wide eyes, “It sounds like-”

Beth came rushing into the main hub in her nightclothes, her hair adorably mussed in Toshiko’s opinion but she didn’t have time to enjoy the sight of her sleep tousled girlfriend as Beth was waving her arms around with a panicked look in her eye, “Dianne’s in labour!” 

“Oh shit” Tosh and Owen said simultaneously, one rushing for the medical bag that was already prepped in the med bay and another reaching for the clean linens that had thankfully just been washed, they were in for a bumpy night.

-

Gwen woke to a ringing in her ears and an uncomfortable lump throbbing on the side of her head, “Ianto?” She groaned as she tried to sit up, “Ianto where are-”

“Hey, shh, you’re alright” Ianto was by her side immediately, helping her sit up as he gently pushed her lank hair from her eyes, they really needed to find somewhere with running water soon, “I’ve got you Gwen, you need to take it steady”

Blinking slowly, Gwen’s eyes slowly started to adjust to the darkness, “Where are we? What happened?” The room they were in was pretty much pitch black, the floor was cold and hard, probably concrete and the air tasted stale, “I don’t remember”

Ianto helped her lean against the wall and shuffled over to the side to light a candle so they could see each other, “We were ambushed, caught in the middle of a raid” he told her and when Gwen looked at his face she was surprised to see his eyes were bloodshot, it looked like he had been crying, “You saved my life” he told her in a completely sincere tone

“I did what now?” Gwen almost laughed but stopped when Ianto pinned her with a look she had never before seen, he looked devastated, grateful, ashamed and yet proud all at the same time, all wrapped up in one big look of intensity that she almost couldn’t handle, “I- I don’t know what to say… how did I…?”

Ianto sniffed and rubbed his eyes roughly, “I got backed into a corner, I gave Wilkinson my gun that morning, he was meant to be lookout. I had nowhere else to run” he took in a shakey breath and held Gwen’s hand tightly in his own when she offered it to him, “I thought I was going to die Gwen, I’ve almost died so many times but I really thought my luck was up.”

“Jesus Ianto” She squeezed his hand tightly and thanked whatever gods were out there that he was still alive

“Then you stormed in with a look of bloody reckoning” he continued, “Screeching like a banshee, gun in each hand and saved my arse” he manage a small smile as he saw it in his minds eye, “You were fearless”

“Then how did I…?” She pointed at her head and watched Ianto’s small smile wilt and be replaced by a dark scowl

“I should have listened to you about Smith, should have listened to my gut. I knew he was trouble and yet I kept him around.” Ianto beat himself up, “We were almost out of there when he grabbed a brick and smacked you over the side of the head with it, I wasn’t fast enough to stop him, I tried Gwen I swear but he knocked you out”

“Hey, its okay” Gwen forcibly swapped their positions, offering Ianto comfort as he had her, “I know you did your best, you always do”

“He’s gone” Ianto assured her, “Stole your displacement gun, shot himself but like I said” Ianto told her darkly, “Not all of him ended up on the other side”

Eager not to dwell on that, Gwen changed the subject, “Where are the others?” It was just them in the room and she began to fear the worst

“They’re up top” Ianto lifted the candle and held it up so he could see the damage on her temple, “I cleaned your wound the best I could, you’ve been asleep for days though, I was starting to worry you wouldn’t wake up”

“You know me” Gwen teased him, “Need my beauty sleep”

Ianto raised an eyebrow and didn’t miss a beat, “You do fine without it”

“Ianto Jones!” She gasped, lifting a hand to her mouth in shock even as she smiled, “I’ll have you know I’m engaged”

Smiling, Ianto was about to respond when instead he was interrupted by Abbott sticking his head through the doorway, “Uh, we have a bit of a situation sir” and if that wasn’t the understatement of the century, Ianto didn’t know what was.


	21. Birth Certificates

Jack hated a lot about being a prisoner, the total lack of privacy, the awful food, being killed, the chains around his wrists and ankles but without a doubt listening to The Masters gloating was at the top of the very long list list. Every resistance base he blew up, every man woman and child of significance that he slaughtered, hell even every update he got on Martha and Chantho, were all crowed back at him through the Masters smug mouth, “Ooh, you’ll like this one” he smirked, waving the report at his face “Looks like your little team have been busy Jack, I was warned they would be resistant but I’m almost impressed with the foul apes. Did you know one of them left me a lovely little message? Threatened to kill me if I hurt their darling leader yet here we stand” he mused, “I don’t like empty threats, the full ones are much more exciting”

“What can I say, I always kept them on their toes, I doubt you’re a challenge for them” Jack rolled his eyes and pretended to be disinterested, he was sure the team would look out for each other and keep themselves safe.

The Master threw his report to the ground in a huff and glared at the man in chains, “I beg to differ, you see I finally found out where your secret little base was, very clever if you ask me. Hide it in plain sight” his smirk returned once he saw he had Jack’s full attention, “Anyway I sent in my little beauties and they dealt with them. Tell me Jack have you every seen what a man looks like once he’s been diced into confetti? No? Would you like me to show you, I have it all on video”

“No” Jack file the air leave his lungs, “You didn’t”

“Oh I most certainly did” The Master chuckled as two of his men rolled a TV in for him, “I want you to watch this Jack,” he said calmly, “I want you to watch every second of this and know you were too weak to save the people you care most about in the whole world.” With an evil grin he turned the TV on and played the footage, too busy laughing to himself to see the look of surprise flash across Jacks face at what he was watching

That wasn’t the hub. Those people being slaughtered weren’t his team and though it was horrifying to watch those innocent men and women get murdered, Jack felt relieved that it wasn’t his family, “You bastard” Jack growled, tears springing to his eyes as he wailed. He had to make it believable or The Master would keep looking, “I’ll kill you” he shouted, struggling against his chains

“Calm down Jackie boy” The Master scolded as the video ended, “As you can see your precious boy toy and PC weren’t there, seems like Cooper and Jones never made it back to Cardiff but don’t you fret” The Master patted him on the cheek, “I’ve got people looking and when I find them” he whispered, “I’ll be sure to bring you his heart”

-

It turns out ‘a bit of a situation’ in Abbotts words was code for massive shitstorm of epic proportions, the abandoned house they had been squatting in was currently surrounded by Toclafane, their displacement guns were charging and Gwen was still recovering, “What do we do sir?” Rayner turned to him for orders, his gun hanging loosely in one hand as he looked fearfully at the door

“Okay,” Ianto put a hand on his hip and rubbed the back of his neck as he thought a mile a minute, there had to be a way out of this, there was always a way he just had to think outside the box and-

An explosion sounded outside, close too if the vibrations Ianto felt under his very feet were anything to go by, “What was that?” Gwen asked as another one went off

“I’m betting its not fireworks if that’s what you’re asking” Ianto gestured for everyone to get behind him as something pounded on the door, “Gwen get ready to lead everyone out the back door on my signal” if this was people they might be in luck but if it was the Toclafane he would need to cause a distraction long enough for Gwen to get away. 

“You got it” Gwen nodded with a slight wince, she was going to have to roll with the punches for a while.

After checking everyone was in position, Ianto approached the door wearily and grabbed the handle, “Get ready to run” he warned them one last time before yanking the door open and shoving his rifle in some random mans face, “Who are you?” He asked suspiciously as he looked around for the Toclafane that had previously been surrounding them, instead he found scorched earth and debris in their place, “What do you want?”

The man was decked out in full combat gear, he had a fresh looking scar running down the side of his face and was blessedly sans a redcap, “I’m Sam, Sam Fido, I was sent to find you”

Ianto frowned and didn’t lower his weapon as he dragged the man inside the house, barring the door and gesturing for Gwen to raise her weapon as well, “What do you want? How did you find us?”

“Please, I’m part of the resistance” The man pleaded, holding his hands up in surrender as the UNIT team pointed their guns at him as well, “We received word that you were in the area and in need of assistance, Nightingale and the Blue Lady sent us”

Recognising the codenames as the Doctors companions that Tosh had managed to tell him about before their contact was cut, Ianto almost believed what the man was saying but there was something off about him, “Who else is with you?” He asked, “And why risk your life to save us?”

Sam gulped as he looked around the room with wide eyes, courting who was there, “The rest of my group is searching the south side of town, I came in this direction when I heard the Toclafane. And the grenades?” Sam asked with a shaky laugh, “About the only way we’ve found that can take them down, I came because I was told you know how to stop them for good”

Well that was certainly not true, Ianto had no idea how to stop those things. Still, it wouldn’t do to tell him that and risk any chance of assistance, “Yep, that’s right” he nodded instead, “But I need to get back to Cardiff”

“No problem” Sam smiled, “There’s a ship full of medical supplies heading for Barcelona in three days time, I can get you on there. You just need to come with me, now”

Gwen frowned as she tightened her grip on the weapon, something didn’t make sense, “You still haven’t told us how you found us”

Ianto watched the mans expression flicker dangerously and that was all he needed before he was slamming the but of his rifle against his head, he would have preferred a bullet but he didn’t want to attract attention, “Gwen, search him while I check for more” he ordered, he knew this was too easy, why had the Toclafane left? Why hadn’t he seen any remains of the metal spheres? Too fucking easy, “Looks clear” he scowled as he peered through the gaps of the boarded up windows, “You find anything Gwen?”

“Ianto” she said fearfully as she pulled his identification out, “He’s one of Saxons”

Cursing under his breath, Ianto was by her side in three strides, looking at the ID over her shoulder, “Shit” he hissed, “Okay, backup is probably on the way. We need a plan”

“We could run” Gwen stood up with a little wobble, Ianto’s arm around her the only thing keeping her from falling down again, “Hide down in the basement and wait for them to move on”

“No can do Agent Cooper” Thompson was shaking his head before turning to Ianto, “Sir, your plan is to infiltrate the Valiant to rescue your commander, correct?”

“Yes” Ianto didn’t see where this was going, “Your point being?”

“Well, Saxon probably sent men to capture you and Agent Cooper. He wants you on board most probably for a public execution” he looked uncomfortable but carried on, “When Smith and I failed to assassinate you he would have taken it as a person slight, If I can get you on board, hand you in. I can redeem myself and be your man on the inside”

Gwen scoffed, “That won’t matter if Ianto is dead” she wasn’t about to let her friend be butchered, not on her watch but when she looked at Ianto she could see the cogs turning in his head, “No, Ianto this is me saying no”

“And this is me pulling rank” he said regretfully, “Listen to me Gwen, I need you to get back to Cardiff. Tosh and Owen are going to need all the help they can get.”

“They need you” Gwen argued tearfully, “I’m not you Ianto, I don’t know what I’m doing”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit Gwen,” Ianto told her, “I believe in you, lead the team and get back to Rhys” he knew he was playing dirty, that Rhys wasn’t in the hub but if that’s what it took to get her moving he would shoulder the guilt for the rest of his life. 

However long that was going to be.

-

Owen sat incredibly still, mostly out of fear but also a little in awe as Dianne placed the baby in his arms so she could go to the toilet. Little Nathans entrance into this world had been messy, bumpy and painful but after 16 hours of labour baby Nathan had joined them. Owen though the was perfect, he had of course seen a lot of babies when he worked in the hospital but he could safely say that Nathan was the cutest one he had ever seen, even if he was slightly terrified of him.

He was just so small, his little fingers Owen enraptured and he wanted to bottle his smell. He didn’t care if Tosh was giving him funny looks, he wanted to sniff the damn babies head for as long as he was allowed, “Are you sure? Am I holding him right?” Owen panicked as Nathan wiggled a bit

“You’ll be fine” Dianne said with crossed legs, she had needed to pee for hours now, “Just try your best not to drop him” and with those words of wisdom she left Owen in charge and went to relieve herself

“Okay” Owen said to himself as he looked down at the baby who was currently looking right back at him, “I’ll stay calm if you do, deal?”

Tosh would like to say she was surprised to enter to room to find Owen locked in a staring contest with the new baby but she wasn’t really, “How are you holding up?”

“Me? I’m fine” Owen said without looking up at her, “How’s Beth?” She had fainted during the birth and if Owen were any less occupied he’d be teasing her about it, as it was he had his hands a little full a the moment

Tosh smiled, knowing exactly what he was thinking, “She’s fine, a little embarrassed but she’ll live. What about Dianne?”

“Mother and baby are perfectly healthy, gave me a bit of a scare when the little bugger decided the chord was a nice scarf but he’s breathing fine” Owen blinked and grinned dopily at the baby in his arms making Tosh go a bit gooey inside. She wondered if she and Beth would ever… nope, too soon for those thoughts Sato, way too soon, “She’s just in the bathroom at the minute, did you print off his birth certificate?” He asked absentmindedly as he focused almost all of his attention on the bundle in his arms

“Got it right there” she handed it over and smiled as Dianne reentered the room, “I was just telling Owen how adorable Nathan is, I’d better go and check on Beth though. Let me know via coms if you need anything, either of you”

Dianne smiled tiredly as Toshiko left and moved to take her baby back from Owen, “Come here darling, let mummy give you a cuddle” she glanced back up at Owen expecting to see his grin and was instead met with tears, “Hey, what is it?”

“Nothing” Owen wiped his tears and tried to hide it as he sniffed, “I’m fine”

Not in the mood, Dianne raised an eyebrow and stared at him till he broke, “Owen”

“It’s just, well, look” he handed the birth certificate over and ran a hand down his scarred face, “I’m a dad”

“Of course you are, muppet” Dianne laughed fondly at him and invited the idiot to cuddle with them, “Come here you big softie, who else would I put on the birth certificate? Nathan is every part your son as he is mine”

“Thank you” Owen sniffed, cuddling his family, almost afraid they would disappear if he didn’t hold them tight enough

Dianne snorted as she kissed his cheek “Don’t thank me yet, this means you’re equally as responsible for night feeds and dirty nappies”

“Two tasks I will endure happily for you hon, I’ll even do bath time” he promised

“I’ll hold you to that”


	22. All Aboard the Valiant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Peeks head out of the cave I’ve been living in for the last two weeks* Hey, long time no see... I’d give you an excuse as to why this took so long but I don’t have one. Still, better late than never so enjoy!

Ianto barley resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Thompson as he gently pushed him about, the handcuffs were a nice touch but if they were going to sell this the other man was going to have to be rougher with him, “Thompson, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job” he whispered while the other guards were distracted, “But maybe put your back into it? They’re not gonna buy it if you handle me with kiddie gloves”

“Oh I’m sorry” Thomson hissed sarcastically, “Do you want me to punch you in the face”

Wincing a little as the other mans grip on his arm tightened, Ianto fake struggled against him, “It may be a necessary evil, look” Ianto nodded subtly to the guards waiting by the plane that would take them to the valiant, “Time to make a good first impression” and with that Ianto tore away from his ‘captor’ and ran, sure to make it look like he was trying to escape before inevitably letting Thompson catch him and drag him back.

Saxons men were waiting with shit eating grins as Thompson kicked his leg out from under him, “So this is him then? Jones?” One of them asked as Thompson hauled him back towards the plane

“In the flesh” Thompson scowled, “Fuckers gonna get whats coming to him, and its about time too”

A woman stepped forward, obviously the one in charge as she ordered her men around, “Lets get him on board, where’s the woman?”

“She escaped, had people helping her. Said they were trying to meet up with Nightingale and the BlueLady in Tokyo” Thompson lied, “Figure Saxon will be happy I brought him this one though”

“His name is The Master, use it” the woman scowled at Thompson before a creepier smile took its place as she grabbed Ianto by his hair, “Come along pretty boy, your master awaits you”

-

“Owen we need more supplies” Tosh argued, “We only have enough food to feed us for the next two weeks, what then? What about Nathan?”

Owen knew all too well that they needed more supplies, that they were dangerously low on just about everything but he couldn’t make everything magically restock could he? Ianto probably could knowing him, the smug bastard, “What do you want me to do about it? In case you haven’t noticed Tosh there are flying death balls armed with knives and lasers patrolling the plass just waiting for us to leave”

“That’s why I can’t go alone” Tosh pleaded, “I need backup”

“I can be backup” a third voice joined their conversation and Tosh had barely whipped around before arguing almost viciously

“No, absolutely not. I won’t- can’t let you do that” she shook her head as Beth looked up at her extremely unimpressed, “I’m not going to change my mind Beth”

Beth just crossed her arms and squared up to her and Owen, “I eat your food, I drink your water” she stood firm, “Why shouldn’t I be just as responsible for the lack of resources? I can’t help fighting aliens or- or deliver a baby but I think I can use my eyes to warn you if one of those Toclafane things are on your six”

As much as Owen didn’t want to get on Tosh’s bad side, he had to agree, “She has a point, come on Tosh” he knew he was a hypocrite, if this was Dianne right now he would be making the same arguments as Toshiko but it wasn’t, so he could say what he liked, “We can give her a stun gun, those things don’t like electricity, a com and she can help you carry things”

“But-”

Beth didn’t even let Tosh begin her argument before she was clapping her hands together with a nervous smile, “Sorted then, we can go now. Come on Tosh, there’s a shop around the corner we can raid”

As Beth marched away with purpose Toshiko gave Owen the dirtiest look he had ever had the misfortune to receive, “Owen,” she said completely calm, which in actual fact just scared him more, “If something happens to Beth after we leave the hub, I swear to you, you will not. Capisce?”

“Yup, oh whats that?” Owen cocked his head to one side quickly, words tumbling out of his mouth before he could make sure they made sense, “That’s the baby, uh, I’ll go make- the, uh, sure its not, um, bottle feed and talc. Yeah?” He nodded to himself as he fled, “Yeah”

-

Gwen had never hated herself so much as when she was sat safely aboard a boat heading towards France, while she was safe and sound on her way back to Cardiff and the team, Ianto was god knows where risking his life to save Jack. She should be with him, he was going to need all the help he could get, he hadn’t even taken his displacement gun with him.

“Hey” Abbot sat next to her nervously, “You feeling alright Agent Cooper?”

Exhausted, she shook her head, “I am the opposite of alright. How am I supposed to do this? I’m not Ianto, I’m not worthy of being a leader, I just-”

“Please, don’t bite my head off” he interrupted, a little scared to do so but when Gwen didn’t say anything he continued, “But I think you’re stronger than you know, it wasn’t just Agent Jones leading us before and I know I speak for all the men when I say we’re at your service just as much as we were at his, Agent Cooper” 

She looked at him though sad eyes and asked, “Call me Gwen?”

Abbot managed a small smile as he nodded, “As you wish Gwen, uh, I’m Tony”

“Tony” Gwen mused to herself, already half asleep as she told him, “Always had you pegged as more of a Samual to be honest”

They didn’t say anything for a long time and Gwen was just on the cusp of sleep when Abbo- Tony whispered, “Just so you know, I’ll follow you to the end of the world. You are someone worthy of being followed” she slept soundly after that, maybe she could do this after all

-

After almost shitting himself on the flight there, Ianto was very close to feeling relieved once he had his feet on something solid again. Though to be fair the Valiant was just one big plane if you thought about it so he wasn’t feeling too pleased about his situation, “Well, this is nice” he mumbled to himself as round about ten of Saxons men approached him with raised weapons

“Be quiet” The woman, who had been staring intently at him for what felt like hours trapped inside the plane, snapped as she hit him round the back of the head, hard, “You will not speak, do you understand?”

“No, could you make yourself a little more clear?” Ianto knew he wasn’t helping himself but let it happen anyway, “I’m afraid I don’t speak Idiot”

“Search him for concealed weapons” the woman snarled

Ianto really wished he could keep his damn mouth shut, perhaps it was the close proximity to Jack that was causing this, “Surely you should have checked before I got on the plane?” He asked as a man approached him and started manhandling him roughly, “Hey, hands off” he growled as the man ripped his shirt, “Its chilly out here”

“You’re not doing yourself any favours” Thompson warned him

“He’s unarmed ma’am” the manhandling creep told the vicious bitch, Ianto really should ask for their names but found his own worked just as well for them, “The Master is waiting on the deck”

“That’s right” Ianto cheered as two other soldiers came and seized him by his arms, “Take me to your leader”

Clearly enraged, the woman he still had no name for glared at him hatefully, “I said no talking” 

“And I said I don’t understand stupid” Ianto shot back with a shit eating grin, “Tell me, does your arse ever get jealous of all the shit that comes out of your mouth or-” Ianto only stopped when Thompson hit him in the face, hard

“She said shut your mouth” the man sneered at him as blood pooled in Ianto’s mouth, “Before I give it something better to do”

Ianto glared right back at him and spat a mouthful of blood in his face, “You should have said something, we could have been enjoying each others company for months” Thompson hit him again, and once more for good measure before moving back and letting the guards carry him forwards once more, “I hope your Master has a better left hook than Thompson” Ianto spat out more blood, this time on the guards to his left, taking great pleasure in the mans wince

“Maybe once he’s done with you he’ll take whats left down to the engine room so the freak can see what he’s done” Bitch face taunted him, but that was her last mistake, now Ianto knew where Jack was and there was nothing stopping him of breaking free

In one smooth move, Ianto had his hands free of the cuffs and grabbed the gun from one of his captors holsters. He managed to shoot three before the first bullet dug into his leg, sure to kill bitch face first, and had another four down for the count before he and Thompson were at a stalemate. Guns pointed at each other’s heads, “And then there were two” Thompson sighed, “More guards are gonna be coming, you’ve got to shoot me”

“I won’t kill you” Ianto warned, giving him no time to react before shooting to disable him, two bullets to the left leg and then he was gone, running like the hounds of hell were on his heels. Which to be fair, they might be, who knows what The Master had left up his sleeve. Not that it mattered then anyway, Ianto had a task to do.

Find Jack, then get the hell off this ship, everything else could wait.


	23. Beth??

Tosh and Beth crept around the corner shop in near silence, the only sound they made was their shallow breathing and urgent steps as they hurried to gather all the supplies they could carry. Getting in was the easy part, it was the getting back into the hub that worried Tosh. The Toclafane had taken to patrolling around the plass daily since someone tipped The Master off about their location, luckily enough he didn’t know about their actual base but it was only a matter of time.

“Tosh!” Beth squealed, giving her girlfriend a heart attack as she rushed out of the back room to see what was wrong, “Look”

In her hands were a pair of tiny baby boots and Tosh barely had time to be annoyed at the false alarm before a Toclafane flew through one of the smashed windows, armed and ready to kill, “Beth! Get down!” She shouted, knowing realistically there was no way she could get to her side in time to try and save her.

Then something horrifying, yet amazing, happened

Beth transformed.

She span around gracefully, her arm morphing into some kind of bladed weapon, and she stuck the Toclafane down mid flight with ease, “Beth?” Tosh whispered as her girlfriend turned around to look at her with wide, scared, eyes, “Beth what-”

“Tosh” she whispered before collapsing in a heap on the floor, leaving Toshiko with one burning question, what the hell had just happened?

-

Jack knew something was up when he didn’t get his usual session of jeering from the guards one morning but nothing could have prepared him for seeing Ianto burst into the engine room covered in blood and sweat, his clothing in tatters and his eyes looking almost feral. Well, to be completely honest, he wasn’t sure it wasn’t just a dream, “Ianto?” He could hardly believe his eyes, what the hell was Ianto doing here? Oh god, he needed to leave before The Master found him, “You’ve got to go” he hissed as Ianto rushed towards him

“Jack” Ianto breathed a sigh of relief and started tugging on his chains, “I’m going to get you out of here-”

“You don’t understand” Jack tugged on his cuffs frantically, “If he finds you here, he’ll kill you Ianto. How the hell did you even get here?!”

Ianto managed to yank one of the chains from the wall but it was still attacked to Jacks wrist, dangling loosely by his side as he worked on the other one, “Not important right now, and I suppose you two have been enjoying one another’s company?”

With his free hand, Jack grabbed Ianto by the back of his head and forced him to look at him, god he looked so much thinner since he’d last seen him, his eyes were ringed with dark circles and he practically emitted urgency, “Please, just leave”

“Not without you,” Ianto grunted as he pulled on the last chain with everything he had, “I’m not leaving you Jackson and you’re more the fool for thinking I ever could” the chain finally snapped and Ianto was quick to catch Jack’s weight, ignoring the pain that shot through his leg from the bullet that was still lodged inside as he propped his lover up and helped him from the room, “I’ve got you Jack, everything is going to be fine”

“Leave me, please Ianto” Jack was almost in tears as he struggled to keep up with Ianto, he was too weak, he was going to get them caught, “Save yourself, if you get caught-”

“Shh” Ianto shushed him as he cocked his head to one side and changed direction, “This way” only as they rounded the next corner Jack felt his stomach drop, his heart stopped beating and he froze because three steps in front of them stood The Master, and he did not look pleased

-

Gwen woke with a jolt and tried her best not to smile at the sight that met her, Tony was asleep by her feet looking adorable with mussed up hair and a small smile, at least his dreams were pleasant, god knows they needed all the happiness they could get right now, “Agent Cooper” that was Wilkinson, looking relieved she had finally woke up, “We should be docking soon, I approximate three hours, I think they’re there”

“What?” Gwen rubbed the sleep out of her eyes feeling a little guilty about what she had just been thinking, as far as she knew Rhys was waiting for her back in Cardiff with Tosh and Owen but here she was practically drooling over Tony, “Sorry, who’s waiting for us?”

Wilkinson looked over his shoulder as if anyone but her could hear him in the middle of the water, “The Nightingale and the BlueLady”

Well, that was a big deal, “Oh” Ianto was going to be so pissed that he had missed them, “Good, thanks for letting me know” she stood and stretched, “If you want to catch a couple of hours before we get there, I can keep watch”

“Thank you Agent Cooper” he smiled gratefully and slipped into her warm spot on the make shift bed they’d made aboard the boat from a couple of pallets and blankets while Gwen took his spot and her turn watching the sky for any sign of an attack, they’d gotten this far, it wouldn’t do to get ambushed now.

-

While Jack may have frozen at the sight of The Master, Ianto reacted by pure instinct. He dropped Jack and leapt forward with little regard for his own safety, he could hear his captain cry out behind him but in that moment all that existed in the world was him and The Master. 

The man who had held the love of his life captive for months, the man who had killed him live one air and most likely countless other times as well. The man he had warned and made a promise to before everything went to hell, he was going to make him wish he had never been born.

Jack could only watch form the floor as Ianto threw himself like a madman at the crazy Timelord, he had no clue what Ianto thought he was doing but he was powerless to stop it as his lover launched a fist at The Masters face, causing him to topple backwards at the force of it, landing on the floor like a sack of potatoes, too shocked to move. Jack hoped Ianto would stop there, begged him to stop and run away but Ianto was a man on a mission, he reined down blow after blow on Timelord who was now curled up in a ball on the floor, bleeding heavily and shouting for his guards.

“Ianto, we have to go now!” Jack managed to crawl forward and tug on the hem of his trousers to get his attention at last. This man in front of him, the one who had blood on his knuckles and a lost look in his eyes, Jack thought he had seen the last of him over fifty years ago but here he was again, Ianto had returned to the same headspace he had adapted during the war and if Jack wasn’t already crying that fact alone would be enough to bring fresh tears to his eyes

“Jackson” Ianto blinked as he picked him back up, heading off in a new direction, “I- we- there’s a plane outside, do you think you can fly it?”

“Just get us both there in one piece and I’m sure I can” Jack would process what had just happened later, for now he had to keep them both focused on staying alive, “Do you know which way you’re going? The guards will be following us”

“Left” was all Ianto had to say as he lead him outside, passing the bodies of the guards he had killed on the way and noting that Thompson wasn’t there, good, judging by the blood trail he had managed to make it back inside, “Come on” he stopped by the plane as he heard shouting coming from the door they had just come out from, “You first”

“Ianto” Jack growled as he did as he was told, climbing inside the plane as the door burst open, “Ianto!” He added with more urgency as shots were fired but thankfully he didn’t have to get back out to retrieve him as the man practically fell inside and slammed the jets door closed behind him

Panting, Ianto clutched his side and angled himself away from Jack, “Go!” He shouted as Jack started up the engine, wasting no time in assessing the controls and preparing to take off

“Here we go, hold on” Jack grit his teeth as he forced the plane to take off, thanking whatever gods still existed that he didn’t immediately blow everything up as they made their escape, “This is going to get a little bumpy!” He was expecting someone to follow, or at least some shots to be taken but as soon as they passed up through the clouds, it was as if the Valiant didn’t even exist, “Is that it?” Jack asked with a frown as he looked out the windows, “They’re just letting us go?”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” Ianto groaned as he tried to maintain the pressure he was applying to his side, “Shit”

“What?” Jack asked fearfully as he glanced back, “What is it? Whats wrong?” The adrenaline was still fresh in his system and it was making him edgy, “Ianto? Ianto talk to me”

“Nothing, just a little graze” Ianto looked down at his bloody hands, feeling sick, “I don’t- I don’t feel so good Jackson”

“Don’t feel so- shit Ianto!” Jack finally spotted the gunshot wound to his stomach and flicked the autopilot on, “Let me see” he batted his hands away and got a proper look, “You never should have come for me”

Ianto gulped as he looked down again, yup, that was a lot of blood, “I love-”

“Don’t” Jack warned him as he checked the wound, “Don’t you dare even think about it”

“Okay then” he laughed breathlessly as a tear rolled down his cheek, he was in a huge amount of pain, he was disgusted with himself and his actions but none of that mattered now because Jack was going to be okay, he had gotten him out of The Masters clutches and they were on their way back to Cardiff. 

Back to the team who would look after Jack if he… they would take care of Jack for him

“Ianto, stay with me” Jack slapped him on the cheek gently as he spotted the blood slowly seeping from his leg as well, “Ianto Jones” he warned as his eye lids started drooping, “Don’t you dare”

“Jackson” Ianto forced himself to stay awake for a few more seconds, he needed to tell him, he deserved to know, to hear it one last time “I love you” and with that Ianto surrendered and let the darkness take him away.

-

“She what?” Owen asked as he bounced Nathan in his arms, the baby was crying and he had no idea why, he’d fed him, washed him, changed his nappy, burped him and sang to him, nothing was working and now he had to deal with Toshiko crying about her girlfriend being an alien as well, “I don’t understand”

“Her arm, it turned into a massive blade Owen” Tosh repeated herself, “She killed a Toclafane”

Owen shrugged and rubbed Nathans back to try and calm him down, “Then whats the problem?”

“Excuse me?” Tosh raised an eyebrow, “Did you not hear me just tell you my girlfriend is an alien?”

Still not seeing the issue, Owen asked, “Is she alive?”

“Yes, I put her in one of the recovery rooms until she wakes up” Tosh told him, “But she-”

Owen silently cheered when Nathan started to quieten down, “She’s not a danger to us,” he told her simply, “She’s never hurt you, we need all the advantages we can get at the minute Tosh”

“Beth is not some weapon for you to take advantage of, she’s a person” Tosh spat, “I don’t know what’s going on but she’s still Beth” if Tosh knew one thing it was that, whatever was going on with Beth, she would love her regardless.


	24. The Resistance Camp

The boat docked under cover of nightfall, the moon being the only source of light as Gwen was helped down off the pier into the back of a truck that would take her god knows where, her only comfort being Rayners soft complaints of exhaustion and hunger in the background. She knew if Ianto were here he’d tell the man to toughen up while looking through his bag for a protein bar or something to give him.

“They’re ready to see you now,” their guide told the group as the truck pulled to a halt, “This way”

Gwen was the fist out, her team of men close behind her as they slid through a gap in a wire fence, “What is this place?” Gwen asked as she looked around the many tents and makeshift huts constructed out of scrap metal and wood

“This is a resistance camp, one of the better ones” their guide stopped outside the nicest tent and nodded inside, “Don’t keep them waiting”

“Of course not” Gwen gave him a fake smile and pushed her way inside, a little startled to see a blue alien just sat there casually sipping a drink but she was Torchwood, she rolled with it, “Hello, my name is-”

“You’re Agent Cooper” a woman came out from behind a dressing screen and smiled warmly at her, a hand offered politely, “I’m Martha, Martha Jones and this is Chantho”

“Chan, it is a pleasure to meet you, tho” Chantho nodded her head and smiled at Gwen and her bewildered team, “Chan, can I offer you a drink, tho?”

“Please” Gwen would kill for a cuppa, she sat down eagerly and sent the men a look that clearly told them to pull themselves together before turning back to their hosts, “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, I know Ianto, Agent Jones, was looking forward to meeting you as well”

“Chan, he isn’t here, tho?” Chantho asked as she handed her a fresh cup of tea 

Gwen shook her head sadly and cradled the cup gently between her hands, letting it warm them before she took a sip, “He… Ianto decided to try and break Jack out from the Valiant, we haven’t heard from him since he left yesterday”

Martha looked at her as if she were insane, “He tried to get onboard?”

“Yes” Gwen sighed, trying her best not to cry, she was worried sick, “My men were previously UNIT, two of them were hired to kill Ianto and I, one died, another joined our side. He’s helping Ianto get onboard, offered to be our man on the inside”

A heavy silence hung over them for a while before Chantho broke it, “Chan, this is good, tho” she looked at Martha with wide eyes, “Chan, we have been trying to do this for months, tho”

“It’s risky,” Martha admitted, “But if he pulls it off, your man will be invaluable to our cause”

Abbot cleared his throat nervously, wringing his hands as he dared to ask “And what is your cause exactly?”

When nobody answered him, Rayner backed him up, “Only, we’ve heard a lot of stories y’see”

“Story goes that you're the only people on Earth who can kill him. That you, and you two alone, can kill the Master stone dead.” Wilkinson asked, “Can you?”

“Yes” Martha told him, gesturing to a box half hidden under her cot, “I’ve been traveling the world, we both have. And everywhere we’ve been, we’ve seen people just like you, surviving, fighting”

“Chan, but if we became a legend, then that is wrong, tho” Chantho carried on, “Chan, there is a man who has sent us out here, tho”

“Who told us to walk the Earth and his name is the Doctor” Martha was in full story telling mode and Gwen started to get suspicious, “He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him. I know him. I love him. And I know what he can do.” The men seemed moved by her little speech, “We’re building a weapon, one that can kill The Master”

“Chan, he had done despicable things, tho” Chantho’s voice wobbled, “Chan, he deserves it, tho”

“Wow” Wilkinson breathed as Abbot and Rayner nodded along

Gwen, on the other hand, smelt something fishy about the whole thing, “Is there a place my team can sleep?”

“Yes,” Martha acted like the perfect host, calling a guard to escort them, “You all look exhausted, we can talk business tomorrow”

Gwen waved Tony off when he stopped to wait for her, “Actually I would like a word now, if you don’t mind. Privately”

“Of course” Martha gave her a funny look and Gwen just about had to kick Abbot out before he’d leave her alone, “Is something wrong Gwen?”

“You’re building a weapon?” She got straight to it, Ianto had been telling her to trust her gut for months now, believing in her and it was time she put that to the test, “I don’t buy it” 

Martha was careful to keep a straight face, “What do you mean?” 

“I’ve been listening to Jack Harkness spew the same nonsense about being above the government and beyond the police for what feels like years, you don’t think I can recognise a rehearsed line when I hear it?” She looked carefully between Chantho and Martha, “What are you really up to? From what Ianto has told me about The Doctor, his files paint him in a pretty saintly glow, especially Jack’s reports. He’d never ask you to spill blood”

Martha shared a significant look with Chantho before a slow smile spread across her lips, “We heard you were good, we seem to have underestimated you though”

“Chan, we needed to know we could trust you, tho” Chantho finished her tea and placed her cup down gently, “Chan, please understand, tho”

“What are you really up to?” She asked again

“We can’t tell you everything,” Martha warned her, “But that’s more for your safety than ours, if you ever get captured that knowledge could be your death sentence”

But Gwen was nothing if not stubborn, “Well tell me the doctored version”

Chantho shrugged and Martha shook her head, “The Archangle network, fifteen satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared. We’re going to use that against him but in order to do that we need to tell people our story”

“Why don’t we just take them out?” Gwen asked, “Get rid of the network, get rid of his hold over everyone”

Chantho already had her answer ready though, “Chan, if we do that the Toclafane descend, tho”

Gwen nodded along slowly, it made sense, they were going to use The Masters technology against him. The less she knew the better, what she had learnt she had to keep to herself for the others safety, best to let them believe in the story, “I have one last question”

“Go on” Martha leaned forward in her seat

Gwen addressed Chantho, “How did you get here and why are you helping us?”

“Chan, I knew him, tho” Chantho was surprised but answered honestly, “Chan, he must pay for what he has done, tho” and that was that

-

Toshiko ran her hands through Beths hair as she slept soundly next to her. She had yet to wake up from her her sleep and Toshiko was getting antsy, it was one thing to learn your girlfriend was secretly an alien, it was a complete other to worry about her health, “Please wake up” she whispered, “I need you”

But Beth didn’t stir, she didn’t so much as flutter an eyelash and Tosh was ready to cry again when Dianne poked her head through the door looking half crazed, “Tosh,” she sounded hysterical too, “Owen said he received word from Ianto, he needs you to decrypt the message”

“Ianto?” Tosh asked with wide eyes as she bolted up, half of her wanted to rush to her computer and get to work yet another part of her didn’t want to move from Beths side and leave her alone, “Could you, um, stay with Beth until I get back?”

“Of course” Dianne pushed her way into the room, “Owen has Nathan anyway, but please hurry, he’s going a little mad right now”

“On it” Tosh promised as she slipped from the bed, not pausing to pull her shoes back on as instead she ran barefoot back to the main hub, sliding behind her desk without breaking her stride, “What have we got Owen?” She asked, switching from concerned girlfriend to work mode in an instant

Bouncing his son on his shoulder, Owen used his free hand to point at the message in the corner of his screen, “I received that five minutes ago, I tried running it through your translation programme before I recognised Ianto’s code at the end”

“Do you think its really from him?” Tosh asked as she got to work decrypting it

“I dunno,” Owen frowned and tried to keep his emotions at bay as they threatened to spill over, ever since Nathan was born he found he was becoming a lot more… mushy, “I hope so”

“So do I” Tosh whispered as she got the first line done, “It says, Need Help”

Impatient, Owen asked, “Is that it?”

“No!” She snapped back as the second line came through, “Ianto Hurt, oh god, it says Ianto’s been hurt” her heart skipped a beat at the last line, “Oh my god”

“What? What is is?” Owen was nearly begging as he tried to read over her shoulder unsuccessfully, “Tosh?”

“Coming Home” she struggled to breath, “Signed CJH”

“As in…” Owen gulped, it couldn’t be, “Jack?”


	25. Recovery

It was almost too calm inside the hub as they waited for Jack to arrive, if the message had come from Jack at all. Owen still wasn’t sure this wasn’t some sort of shake down, a ploy to get them to reveal their location, “Dianne, listen, all I’m saying is The Master is a slippery fucker, he wouldn’t have let Jack escape if he could help it”

Dianne listened to him as she cradled their son but respectfully disagreed, “If anyone could sneak out from under his nose, it would be the Captain”

“Well it looks like we’re going to find out either way” Tosh interrupted, chewing on her bottom lip nervously, “I’ve been following whoever it is since they got off the plane using whatever CCTV cameras are still working, looks like they’ve found us” she nodded to the cog door, “They’ve just entered the tourist office”

“Dianne, you need to take Nathan down to the cells, it’s safe down there, lock the door behind you and don’t open it to anyone but me” Owen ordered as he checked the bullets in his gun

Angry that she was being dismissed, Dianne glared at the man, “I’m not running and hiding like some sort-”

“You’ve got to think of Nathan” Owen cut her off, his eyes were pleading but his tone was firm, “I- _we_ need to keep him safe”

Admitting defeat, Dianne warned him, “You’re on babysitting duty next time”

Owen watched her go before turning back to Tosh, “Did you get a good look at who it was? Is it Jack and Ianto?

“Our power is running low, the picture was too pixelated. Besides its not as if Jacks running around in his coat anymore” Tosh raised her own weapon and pointed it at the cog door when the lift activated, “Ready?”

Owen licked his lips and tightened his grip on his own gun, “As I’ll ever be” Tense and full of adrenaline, the two agents tried to control their itchy trigger fingers as the door slowly rolled open, both relieved and horrified when they saw who was there, “Fucking hell, what happened?!” Owen dropped his gun on the closest desk and rushed forward to help a bloody and bruised Jack Harkness carry an even worse off Ianto.

The last time he had seen Ianto, the idiot had been putting on a brave face on his way to catch a flight with Gwen to investigate rumours of a Yeti in the mountains. It was quite a shock to see him bleeding, battered and desperately clinging to life now, “Med bay, now” he ordered, letting Jack place his limp body on the table as he rushed around for some clean equipment, “What happened to him?”

“He got shot” Jack choked and normally Owen would be a little concerned about how damn broken his boss looked but right now he was furiously trying to save Ianto’s life, “His leg and his side, Owen please” tears were rolling down his cheeks freely, his eyes bloodshot as he begged, “Help him”

“I’m doing what I can,” he swore as he ran a scanner over Ianto’s body, “He’s lost a lot of blood, I don’t have enough of his in reserves”

“Use mine” Jack held his arm out immediately, “We’ve done it before, we’re compatible”

Tosh handed him the needles he needed and that was the first time Owen even noticed she was hovering by his side to help, “Yeah, right” he focused on what he was doing, “I need to stop the bleeding first, Tosh can you prep his arm for me while I work?”

Efficient as ever, Tosh gave him a nod and jumped into action, “On it” they weren’t going to let Ianto go without a fight

-

Gwen woke up the next morning happy as a jay bird, she was warm, clean and pleasantly full from the hot meal she’d eaten last night. It wasn’t often she had any of these luxuries so having all three at once was heavenly. Of course reality had to set in eventually and she had to drag herself out of bed, well out of her cot anyway, and face the day. The men were already waiting outside for her looking fresh and ready for action, “Come on,” she led the way back to Martha and Chantho’s tent, “Lets get to work boys”

As predicted the two women were also waiting for her, it felt nice to be important, “Gwen,” Martha spared her a quick smile as she beckoned her closer, “I have a proposal for you”

“I’m flattered but I have a man waiting for me back home” Gwen teased, enjoying the way Martha unsuccessfully tried to hold back a laugh

Clearing her throat to try and seem at least a little professional, Martha shook her head, “If I didn’t already know, I’d say that was proof enough of your relation to The Captain. Speaking of…” she trailed off, unsure how best to phrase her words

Luckily, Chantho had no such qualms, “Chan, we have received word that The Captain has escaped, tho”

“He what?!” Gwen shrieked before collecting herself, “Sorry, but Ianto got him out? They’re both alive? Where are they?”

“I’m afraid the location of Agent Jones is currently unknown” Martha watched as not only Gwen’s shoulders sagged, but the shoulders of her men too, “But The Master has issued a warrant for Jack’s capture, no word of Ianto’s”

“Well… that’s good” Gwen tried to stay positive, “If Jack got off the Valiant then he can help with the resistnace”

“Which is exactly what I brought you in here to talk to you about” Martha circled round, “Chantho and I have to keep moving, we can’t stay in one place too long. We need someone to take control here”

“Chan, we think it should be you, tho” Chantho told her

“Me? You want me to lead the resistance from here?” Gwen asked, shaking her head a little, “This is all starting to sound a little StarWars for me. Will I be fighting stormtroopers? Empire scum?”

Chantho tilted her head to one side, clearly confused while Martha rolled her eyes and her men sniggered behind her, “The Master is building rockets, we have scouts looking for his bases of operations, your job would be to take down these bases and basically be a thorn in his side while Chantho and I focus on building our weapon”

“Chan, this is dangerous, tho” Chantho warned her, “Chan, you must think carefully, tho”

Gwen thought it over briefly before turning to ask her team, “What do you think?”

Tony was the first to step forward, “I’m with you till the end” and the others were quick to follow with their own agreement

“Well then” Gwen could feel the weight on her shoulders but she wouldn’t buckle, she knew that if she started to fall she had her men to help her back up, “Let’s get started” she would make Ianto proud, wherever he was.

-

Jack slowly regained consciousness but not in the sleepy, dazed way people normally did. No, he woke up dragging himself round, fighting with energy he simply didn’t have to open his eyes and find out what was going on. The last thing he remembered was Owen hooking him up so he could give blood to Ianto, oh god, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what had happened, “Ianto?” He croaked, looking around the recovery room he had been placed in, “Ianto?!” He called louder, struggling out from the bed as the door swung open

“Hey, calm down you big girls blouse” Owen slapped at his hands that were pulling on his drip, “It’s medicine ya twat, stay still”

“Owen” Jack growled, grabbing him by the front of his shirt menacingly, “Where’s Ianto?”

“He’s fine” Owen rolled his eyes, prying Jacks hand from his front, “Or at least he will be, mind telling me why his injuries were partially healed? Those gunshots weren’t half as nasty as they should have been”

“I-” Jack folded back in on himself, he was exhausted, he felt like he was empty, “I did my best”

“What? With your magic?” Owen gestured at him, “Your living forever thing?”

“Sort of” Jack thought back to when Ianto went limp in his arms on the plane, how he’d cried over his body as he stopped breathing and smashed their lips together, begging, praying for him to get better. And then he had. Not fully, he was still injured and heavily so but he wasn’t dead and that had given Jack hope, “I don’t know what happened exactly, but yeah, my ‘forever thing’ helped him”

Owen stole the next words right out of his mouth, “I suppose you want to see him?” He asked, “He’s still asleep so no naughty business. How did you even escape?”

“Ianto can be very stubborn” Jack replied, grunting as Owen helped him to his feet, “And dangerous when he wants to be”

“Yeah, no kidding” Owen snorted as he took some of Jack’s weight and helped him across to the room opposite where Dianne and Tosh were sat next to Ianto’s bedside with Nathan and Beth in their respective arms, “Look who decided to join us” Owen smiled as Tosh jumped up to hug Jack tightly

Soothed, Jack hugged her back just as hard, glad to have his family back together again, “Hey Tosh, it’s good to see you” 

“Jack” she sniffed, wiping her eyes as she pulled away only to punch him on the shoulder, hard, “That’s for not saying goodbye”

“I told Ianto I was going” Jack argued, looking over her shoulder to see the man was indeed still alive, asleep and injured but alive, “How’s he doing?”

“Fine,” Dianne smiled as Jack finally spotted the baby in her arms, “We early 20th century folk are good stock, it’ll take more than a bullet to stop him” she lifted her child up a little so Jack could have a proper look as he sat down beside her, “Meet Nathan John Harper-Holmes”

“Hello” Jack allowed himself to coo for a moment before extending a hand to the stranger in the room, “Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?”

“Beth Halloran” she shook his hand nervously, “I’m Tosh’s girlfriend”

Jacks eyes widened, “Oh” before a smirk crawled across his lips, “How long has this been going on?”

“We had our first date a few weeks before you left” Tosh admitted, not liking Jacks smile at all, “But enough about us, tell us how you escaped”

Suitably distracted for the time being, Jack reached out to hold one of Ianto’s hands,“It was all him, he saved me”

“Yeah but how?” Owen asked, an eager look on his face as he prepared to hear an amazing story, “I bet he stormed in guns blazing and nearly blew the ship up, didn’t he? Please tell me it was cool and you didn’t escape disguised as a loyal minion or some shit”

“I’m not exactly sure how he got on board” Jack conceded, “He just arrived where I was being held and broke me out of my chains. Carried me outside, got shot and we escaped one a plane”

“You forgot how I broke Saxons nose” Ianto mumbled, causing everyone to snap their heads in his direction, “It smells funny in here”

“Ianto?” Jack bent over so he was perched directly above his face, “Can you open your eyes?” He asked, flooded with relief when Ianto peeked up at him with an adorable frown, “You’re alright baby, we’re in the hub, we’re safe”

“N’t your baby” he mumbled, smushing his face into his pillow, the rest of his sentence nothing but muffled grunting but Jack knew the line by now and pressed a soft kiss to his head anyway, whispering sweet nothings into his ear

“And that’s our cue to leave” Owen stole Nathan from Dianne and nodded to the door, “We’re trying to get ahold of Nightingale and The BlueLady, we’ve been hearing whispers of Gwen’s location. I’ll be back to check on him in an hour so no funny business’s Jack” he warned him again before ambling off to get back to work with Dianne hot on his heels

“Just so you know” Tosh stopped at the doorway, holdings Beth’s hand, “We’ve missed you and we’re glad you came back to us”

“There is nowhere else I would rather be” Jack told her honestly as he ran a hand through Ianto’s hair, he was right where he belonged.

Now all he had to do was save the world, how hard could it be?


	26. Let Me Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s only a short one today, sorry about that but I hope you like it nonetheless :)

It didn’t take long for Ianto to get back to his usual self, some might even say his recovery was oddly swift but then again Ianto had always prided himself on being efficient, “Have you heard anything from Gwen?” They were all huddled around single screen in the boardroom, Jacks hand was on his arm and Ianto knew another long talk about boundaries and insecurities was looming but it would have to wait, they were a little preoccupied trying to save the world at the moment

“Actually” Owen clicked his fingers and rummaged through some papers he’d been using to take notes, “Our informant Jacque, he’s a resistance fighter in France,” he clued Jack and Ianto in, “He mentioned that Nightingale and The BlueLady were on the move again but they appointed a new head at their resistance camp on Swiss-France boarder, called her _‘Agent Cooper’_ ” he rolled his eyes, “I’m fairly certain I know who she is”

“Gwen met up with them?” Ianto felt both relieved and oddly jealous which was stupid, “Thank the Lord, she’s safe” he sagged a bit and sighed when Jack’s arms circled around him, they were defiantly going to have to talk, “Can I send her a message? She’ll want to know I’m alive, and that we got Jack out”

Tosh couldn’t help but snort at that, blushing when everyone looked at her expectantly, “I mean… _We?_ I’m pretty sure Owen and I had nothing to do with it”

“She’s right” Owen folded his arms, “It’s not like other of us were batshit crazy enough to go right into the lions den and swagger away with Captain Jack Harkness under our arm”

“I do not swagger” Ianto crinkled his nose, “And The Master is hardly a lion Owen, he’s more like a Hyena, a scavenger but an effective hunter none the less”

Jack pulled away a little so he could look at his lover with a baffled expression, “Since when were you an expert on Hyena’s?”

“I watched a lot of documentaries after you’d left” Ianto shrugged and glared a little at Owen when he smirked, “Needed to fill my time with something”

“Getting back on track, we need to-” Tosh stopped mid sentence when her computer beeped at her, “Uh oh”

“Uh oh? Whats uh oh?” Beth spoke up from the outer-reaches of the huddle, “Uh oh sounds bad”

“Well it’s not good” Tosh worried her lip before swearing in Japanese and running to her desk back in the main hub, slamming her hand down on her keyboard and the next thing they knew the whole hub shook menacingly under their feet, “Hold on!” Tosh shouted as the ceilings threatened to collapse above them

Then it stopped, just as suddenly as it had started and Dianne wanted answers, whatever that was it could have hurt her son, she didn’t care if Toshiko was one of the good guys, if she did anything to harm Nathan she’d kill her were she stood, “What was that?”

Beth gulped, “An earthquake?”

“No, that felt strange” Ianto blinked a couple of times and tried to figure out what felt different, it seemed like Dianne could feel it too if the way she was crinkling her nose was anything to go by, “It feels like it did when we landed in the sky gypse, Dianne?”

“Everything feels off kilter” she nodded, “What happened?”

Jack pulled Ianto along with him as he went to check what Tosh had done on her computer, surprised at what he found, “It’s a time bubble… but how did you…?”

“I froze us in time but it won’t hold long, we have about ten minutes” Tosh was clearly in a panic, “We need to move, right now, because they’ve found us”

-

With Martha and Chantho gone, it was up to Gwen to maintain the resistance camp in their stead. That meant coordinating missions, sending out scouts, settling disputes and occasionally raiding the labour camps to rescue The Masters, for lack of a better word, slaves. It wasn’t easy, not by far but she wasn’t alone, Gwen had friends to watch her back. 

Wilkinson was a high end strategist, he was the best of the best and invaluable to her. Rayner was an excellent fighter, the man lived and breathed combat and Abbot? Tony Abbot was just about the only thing keeping her sane at the minute, he was kind, gentle and _decent_. Qualities she had always admired in Ianto and found even more attractive when wrapped up in tight black mission clothes with a lovely English accent.

“I don’t know Tony, is it safe to send them there?” She asked, a migraine coming along

Tony licked his lips and shrugged, “Nowhere is safe nowadays, but while sending them West is a risky move it could gleam us some real intel into what exactly is going on in The Masters camp”

“You’re right” Gwen sighed, rubbing her forehead, “I know you’re right but I don’t want to send these men off to their deaths”

“You’re not sending them” Tony argued gently, “They’re going willingly because they believe in you, we all do”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t” Gwen’s shoulders sagged, “I’m no one special, what have I ever done to qualify myself for this?”

“You,” Tony shuffled closer and placed a hand over hers with a soft smile, “have saved so many peoples lives, you were Torchwood, you defended the world from aliens, you hiked down a mountain with two injured soldiers, you saved me from the Toclafane.” He looked up at her with both respect and awe, “I’m proud to know you Agent Cooper, and I believe you are special”

“Tony” Gwen whispered as the man leaned closer, “I…” The next thing she knew it was like a dam had broken, Tony was kissing her and she… well she was kissing him back, “I can’t” she whispered when they finally parted, “I- I can’t Tony”

“Why not” He intertwined their fingers, “I know you feel this too”

“I’m engaged,” She shook her head but didn’t move to pull her hands away, “I have someone waiting for me back home, I love him very much”

“He isn’t here” Tony licked his lips, “He can’t protect you like I can” he squeezed her hands, “Let me love you”

But Gwen pulled her hands away, brushing a tear away as she tried to keep her voice level, “I’m sorry Tony”

Crushed, Abbot pulled away and let out a shaky breath, “Don’t be” he swallowed past the lump in his throat, “I’m the one who should apologise, I never should have-”

Gwen raised a finger and held it to his lips, “Let’s just forget this ever happened, please?”

“If that’s what you want” Abbot nodded firmly, eyes downcast as he made an excuse to leave, “I’d better go, the water tanks need refilling” and Gwen didn’t stop him, instead she waited until he fled her tent before crying in earnest, torn between her love for Rhys and whatever it was she was feeling for Tony.

She didn’t know what to do and so did nothing, returning to her battle plans with a sniff and telling herself to focus, the world wouldn’t wait for her to pull herself together.


	27. Tongue Tied

“They’ve found us, what do you mean they’ve found us?” Owen asked

Toshiko, who was already grabbing everything she could and stuffing it into a backpack, barely glanced up to answer him, “I mean there are two dozen Toclafane in the process of breaking in through the office upstairs as we speak, we need to move, Jack is there another way out of here besides the lift?”

“The tunnels,” Jack jumped to action as well, helping her in any way he could, “they connect to the sewers”

“No, that’s too obvious, if they found out about the tourist office they’ll know about the sewers as well” Ianto shook his head, “I suggest we use the cave systems Marcus blocked off back in 52’, it might be a bit more work but we’ll be undetected”

“Cave systems?” Tosh asked as she threw a bag to Beth, instructing her to fill it with ration packs and bottled water, “You never mentioned them before”

“Never came up” Ianto shot back, helping Dianne juggle the baby along with the bag Tosh had thrust at her, “They lead towards Splott Beach, from there we can double back to the docks and see if we can find a boat”

Dianne raised an eyebrow at his plan, “You know how to sail?”

“Jack does” Ianto told her, “He is a Captain after all”

From thereon-out the extended Torchwood team did very little talking, too focused on staying alive to waste time chatting. Jack had led the way down to the sealed off tunnels and with help from Owen and Ianto broke down the boards his predecessor had put up to hinder people looking to explore. From there it was a slow and dangerous climb through a pitch black cave system that would hopefully lead them to the surface if Ianto’s memory was serving him correctly.

They could freak out later once they were safe, they didn’t just have themselves to worry about, they had a child to protect. Dianne was doing her best to keep Nathan quiet but he was going to draw them too much attention once they got out of the caves and were visible from above again, “I’m doing my best, he’s upset” Dianne hissed when Owen suggested he give it a try, “Here, hold him for a minute while I dig another blanket out of my bag” she held her arms out to Ianto by accident in the dark and he wasn’t given much a choice but to hold the baby

“Uh, Dianne? I don’t have him” Owen whispered with empty arms

“I do” Ianto gulped as he struggled to keep calm, babies could sense fear right? Well he must be emitting it like a beacon, “There there” he shushed awkwardly as Nathan whimpered, “Please be quiet”

Jack squinted carefully in the dark, trying to make out his figure, “He’s not a bomb” he told his lover when he made out how Ianto was holding him, “Clutch him to your chest”

Doing as he was told, Ianto brought the baby closer and tired to hold as still as possible, relieved yet terrified to move when Nathan went quiet, “Now what?” He asked

“We continue,” Jack took the lead, “Nathan seems fine where he is, give Dianne’s arms a bit of a break”

“You want me to carry him?” Ianto double checked, his jaw by his feet as a million and one reasons flashed through his mind telling him that was a terrible idea, “Me?”

“Yes you” Jack asked quietly, “Problem?”

This was not the time, Ianto thought as he adjusted his grip on the baby, he could freak out later but right now they had to keep moving, “No, everything’s fine”

“Good, follow me everyone, I remember it’s this way” Jack told them all, walking off slowly but with confidence as he led them blind, he could only hope Ianto would recognise a wrong turn if they took one.

It feels like hours of shuffling around in the dark before they see a literal light at the end of the tunnel, Owen was the first to run towards it before anyone could shout a warning and Ianto knew as he heard the telltale sound of Toclafane in flight that they were done for. He didn’t have his displacement gun, he had his arms full of squirming baby and Owen had already given their position away.

Then something amazing, yet terrifying, happened. Toshiko’s girlfriend let out a battle cry and threw herself headfirst into the fray.

Oh, did he forget to mention she transformed? Right in front of him? Into some sort of blades-for-arms alien? Because that happened, before his very eyes, the shy woman his friend was dating transformed into a Toclafane killing machine, swinging her arms (blades?) with a grace born of ease and struck down half a dozen Toclafane before moving onto the next batch like it was nothing.

“Tosh?” Ianto cleared his throat as her girlfriend finished off the last of them, panting as she turned back to normal, “Did you know…?”

“It’s all very new” Tosh shrugged as she hurried forward to steady her girlfriend, the truth was that Beth had no idea what she was capable of, she wanted to pretend she was normal but Tosh knew she wasn’t, Beth was anything but normal but in an amazing way, “Can someone help me with her?” Tosh asked and Owen was closest, supporting Beth with one arm as Jack inspected the smoking remains of one of the Toclafane, it was nothing more than smoking hunks of metal at this point and they didn’t have time to run tests on it right now.

“Harkness, the boat” Owen got him back on track

“Right, the boat” Jack nodded, deciding he could inquire about the alien woman later as he focused on taking in his surroundings for now, trying to figure out where they were, “Should be west of here, right Ianto?” He asked, turning to see his lover cradling a beautiful baby in the slightly overcast light, he knew it wasn’t the time for such thoughts but Ianto really did look handsome nursing the small child

Also looking around, blind to the clunky way Jack was looking at him, Ianto agreed, “Yeah, it’s not too far but we need to keep quiet” he looked the half conscious Beth up and down, “I don’t think we’ll get another lucky escape like that”

-

Gwen gasped when Rayner showed her the latest broadcast from the Valiant, that couldn’t be right… she needed to get word to the team as soon as possible, “Rayner set up a communication line between here and the closest base to Cardiff, I need to warn some friends”

“Of course” Rayner hurried off to do as he was told as Gwen sank onto an empty crate, she knew the hub had probably already gone up in smoke but she could at least warn them not to walk right into The Masters backup trap.

-

“Voila!” Jack grinned as he got the third boat he’d tried working, the first two had been beyond repair but after a little tinkering this one was good to go, “All aboard”

“Are you trying to get us caught?” Owen snarked as he helped Dianne aboard with the baby

Choosing to ignore the grumpy man, Jack instead helped Ianto carry Beth up and settled the sleeping woman below deck, “Will she be okay?” He asked Owen when he reappeared, he didn’t know what she was, a few months ago he would have put her in a cell and demanded answers but this was a new world and they needed any advantage they could get

“Fine” Owen assured him, “She was like this after the first time too and before you ask, no, I don’t know what she is and no again, Tosh won’t let me poke around her genetic structure. Shouldn’t you be… y’know, driving the boat or something?” he asked when Jack didn’t move to go

“Right” the Captain blinked, getting to his feet and walking to the stairs that lead up to the controls before stopping at the doorway, “Make sure she gets better” he warned and went on his merry way, there weren’t many places he could take them, he did briefly consider steering them up towards Torchwood 2’s lesser known base but decided against it, instead turning the boat around and setting a course for Flat Holm. If The Master had found out about the hub then it was only a matter of time before he followed the breadcrumbs back to the Glasgow office, if he hadn’t already found it. Sure it would raise a few hard questions taking them to the island but it was undoubtedly safer and safe is what they needed if they were going to have any chance of rebuilding and getting back to work.

Luckily Dianne seemed more than happy, not to mention capable, of taking over after a while to give him a break. The last few months had been rough on him and he was still recovering after his many deaths. What he needed was some good old fashioned Ianto-time, the other man always knew how to make him feel better.

It wasn’t a big boat so he knew Ianto couldn’t have gone far and he eventually found him hiding in the tiny kitchen, sat on the ground scribbling into a little black book, “What y’doin?” He asked, plopping himself down next to the younger man, trying to read what he was writing over his shoulder

Closing the book, Ianto gave him a surprised look at being caught, “I…” it was pointless trying to hide anything from Jack, he may as well just tell him, it’s not like it was a secret anyway, “I was just writing everything down, nothing incriminating, to try and… I don’t know” he shrugged feeling silly, “It’s not the same but writing home to Lisa during the war helped me process everything I guess… it’s stupid”

“No” Jack smiled, cupping his cheek, “It’s not, if that’s what it takes to help you process everything then it’s not stupid” stroking his cheek Jack couldn’t resist the urge to leer as he shuffled closer, “However, I seem to remember a few different methods we used to cope back then as well,” leaning in Jack pressed a passionate kiss to his lovers lips, pushing closer almost immediately, desperate to feel more, to taste more, to prove to himself that while the world might be fucked, he and Ianto were the same as ever.

Except, Ianto jerked away from him. 

Eyes wide, the younger man displayed a whole range of emotions within the few seconds it took him to find the words, shock, unease, fear, distress and surprise at himself for pulling away in the first place, “Sorry” he blinked rapidly, “I don’t- I’m not- I- sorry Jack, I’m sorry” 

“Hey,” Jack didn’t know what was going on but he pulled himself well out of Ianto’s personal space until he was invited back in, “Ianto, look at me, it’s fine. You don’t need to apologise, I’m the one who should apologise for just pouncing on you like that…” why didn’t he want to kiss him? Was he less attracted to him now after he’d found him all bloody and disgusting aboard the Valiant? He’d been gone a long time, had he found someone else? 

“I don’t know what just happened” Ianto admitted with a face flushed with embarrassment, “I swear it’s not you Jack, I- I just feel…”

“Tired?” Jack took a stab in the dark, relieved beyond measure when Ianto reached out to hold his hand, “Seasick?”

“Off-kilter” Ianto told him with a frown, Jack could practically see him struggling with himself to open up but he didn’t push, instead he chose to wait until Ianto spoke, “I don’t know what it is but ever since I woke up back in the hub, something has just felt… different, I can’t explain it”

“Whatever it is, we’ll work it out together, alright?” Jack squeezed his hand, bringing it up slowly to his lips, giving Ianto plenty of time to pull away before he pressed a kiss to his knuckles, “For better or for worse, sickness and in health and all that”

Chuckling, Ianto reclaimed his hand, “I think you’re forgetting the fact that we aren’t actually married”

“We might as well be” Jack realised as he spoke that he meant every word, “I’ve been hopelessly in love with you for over half a century, you’ve seen me at my best, at my worst and at every point in between, all it takes is one look from you and I melt”

“Jack” Ianto whispered but he wasn’t finished

“When I made my vows to Emily did you really not realise I was actually making them to you?” He asked, “That I was looking at you the whole time, that I spent the whole night wishing it were you I could share my first dance with, that it were you I could proudly declare mine in front of everyone?” 

Smirking to cover up his insecurities, Ianto tried to play it off, “I’m sure that would have gone down well”

“I wouldn’t have cared” Jack swallowed, “I’m deeply, hopelessly and irreversibly head over heals in love with you Ianto Jones” he hadn’t known how much he needed to say it until he did, “From now until the last star burns out”

“Jack… I… I love you too” Ianto shook his head helplessly, “I feel like an idiot, I’ve never had a way with words, especially when I’m with you Jack, you render me completely stupid”

Still smiling, Jack reached out to hold his hand again, it was nothing more than an intertwining of fingers but in that moment it felt like the most intimate act they’d ever partook in, “That’s what Lisa told me, the first time we met, I believe she said a handsome chap like me would have you tongue tied, but I think it only added to your charm”

Looking down at their joint hands, Ianto struggled to finds the words to explain the enormity of what he was feeling, “I love you,” of that he was certain, “Wherever life takes us I know we can weather anything as long as I am by your side”

“And I yours” Jack smiled, pleased when Ianto leaned in for another kiss, this one a lot slower and sweeter than his own but he loved it all the more for it. 

They would get through this, one step at a time, together just like they always did and not even The Master himself would tear them apart.


	28. Fizzling

After Ianto excused himself from the kitchen with Jack, claiming he needed some fresh air, he took himself outside and took a much needed deep breath. Everything was going to be fine, it might look bleak at the moment but it would work itself out, it always did and they would be wiser for it. Try as he might though this new feeling inside was driving him crazy, he couldn’t explain it. It was as if everything that made him, _him_ was tainted. Whenever Jack came close to him, something fizzled under his skin and not in the way he was used to… but figuring it out would have to wait as they were once again at war.

Some days it felt as if he’d never escaped the first one.

“Penny for them” Tosh joined him by the railings, looking down at the water as they bumped shoulders

“Oh you know,” Ianto sighed, “Reminiscing over the good ol’ days, trying desperately to clobber a plan together and trying even harder to resist the urge to ask about Beth”

Echoing his sign, Tosh nodded, “Yeah, me too”

“She an alien?” Ianto asked outright, “Y’know I won’t judge. I mean, you’ve met Jack”

That, at least, startled a laugh out of his friend, “I dunno,” she ran a hand over her face, clearly exhausted, “All I know is that I love her and I’m going to keep her safe”

Raising his eyebrows, Ianto cocked his head to one side, “That’s all that really matters” he said casually as he pulled his jacket around himself tighter, “How have you been? It feels like years since we last spoke”

“I’ve been better” Toshiko admitted, “Things haven’t been easy in the hub these last couple of months, supplies were running low, Dianne had the baby, Owen… well you’ve seen Owen”

“I wasn’t going to ask…” Ianto trailed off, hoping she would offer up some backstory

Tosh wondered where to begin, “There was a young boy, he couldn’t have been older than 20” she shook her head, “He was being chased by a cluster of Toclafane across the plass, Owen went to help but he was too late. He was a mess Ianto” she told him, “I did everything I could but I’m no doctor, the scars on his face are the worst, he struggles with them”

Ianto didn’t know what to say, he knew from personal experience that scars were a sensitive subject, he’d collected many over the years himself after all, “You did everything you could, you kept him alive” he tied to raise her spirits, “And mostly sane, but then again I always thought he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic that one” glad to see a smile tugging at her lips, Ianto carried on, “And what about the baby? Nathan wasn’t it? How’s he been with him?”

“Yes, it’s Nathan.” Tosh let herself smile properly, “Owen’s been great, honestly, you should hear him singing lullabies”

“I think I’ll pass” Ianto rolled his shoulders as he stretched, the fizzling was coming back, it didn’t exactly hurt but it wasn’t totally pleasant. Looking over his shoulder back at where Dianne was sailing the boat he saw Jack by her side, “I think we’re almost at Flat Holm, when we get there please don’t waste your energy fighting with Jack, what’s done is done we need to keep looking forwards, okay?”

“Sure” Tosh nodded, a little confused as she didn’t know what Flat Holm was but she trusted Ianto and would do as he asked, “Let’s get back inside, I should check on Beth”

“Good idea” he nodded, “I’ll check in with Dianne and Tosh?” He stopped her before she disappeared, “Its great to see you again”

Rolling her eyes to cover up how pleased she was, Tosh huffed, “You too” and left to go check on Beth, little did they know they were about to stumble into a whole new world of hurt.

-

“Dammit!” Gwen threw the closest thing to hand, which in this case was an empty mug, at the wall as she received word that it was too late, “Fuck this isn’t fair” she shouted as she realised Ianto and his team were about to walk into a trap, there was nothing she could do from here, she couldn’t send him a message, a warning so he could escape while he still had a chance

She had failed him, it was supposed to be her job to keep people safe as the new head of the camp but she couldn’t even keep her friends out of danger. How was she supposed to lead her own team when she had already let down her old one?

“Agent Cooper?” It was Rayner again, “I don’t want to disturb you but we finally located one of The Masters labour camps in the East, we’re waiting your command”

While it might be too late to help Ianto, she could sure as hell hurt The Master, “I want a full team ready to head out by 1900, let’s show The Master who he’s dealing with”

Resisting the urge the smile, Rayner raised his hand in a salute, “Yes Ma’am” and went to go fulfil her orders, tonight they would fight and they would win

-

“Here we are” Jack grinned as he took over from Dianne to dock the boat through the fog, Flat Holm looked secure enough. There was no sigh of Toclafane, the buildings were all still standing and everything smelt fresh, “Island looks secure, Tosh and Ianto follow me. Owen, Dianne stay with Beth and the baby while we give the place a quick sweep” he ordered as he climbed down off the boat, holding a hand out to Tosh who accepted his help gratefully, as did Ianto though he rolled his eyes

“This shouldn’t take long” Ianto told Owen who he could tell was about to argue, “Keep Dianne from racing to interfere if we find anything, Nathan needs you both” Owen didn’t have to say anything as he backed away from the side of the boat, Ianto knew he wanted to get in on the action but there were more important things at stake here

“Ianto you take the East side, Tosh the West and I’ll take the middle” Jack ordered, taking point as they cautiously kept forwards, keeping an eye out for anything that could be seen as suspicious, “There’s nothing here” Jack frowned as he reached the lighthouse, something wasn’t right, where was everyone? The Rift victims? The Staff? The island was empty

He was just about to turn back and return to the boat when he heard Toshiko scream in the distance. Even as Jack ran, Ianto was already there before him and he wasn’t alone, “Jack get back to the boat” Ianto grit through his teeth as he struggled against his captors hold, “Take Toshiko and run!” He ordered as Toshiko let out a whimper from where she had collapsed on the ground, blood pumping out of an injury to her leg. 

But Jack could only focus on one thing, the face of a monster sneering at him as he held the love of his life captive, “Hello Jackie boy, long time no see”

“Jack” Ianto tried to snap at him again as he fought against the hands holding him but it was no use, The Master simply tightened his grip on his throat, effectively silence him as he struggled to breathe

“Let him go” Jack warned as Tosh started to crawl towards him, if he could grab her he could run her back to the boat but not before he got Ianto far away from the madman, “Let me trade places with him”

The Master cocked his head to one side with a smirk, loosening his grip on Ianto’s throat so he could speak once more, “What do you say Mr Jones? Want to trade places?”

“Burn in hell” Ianto growled huskily, his eyes pleading with Jack to run

The Master seemed all too pleased with his answer, smiling coldly, “That’s what I hoped you’d say Mr Jones, take a good long look at your Captain, this is the last time you’ll be seeing him for a while” he taunted, “My children will be joining us shortly, they made quick work with the pet freaks you kept locked up but they were called away. Don’t worry they’ll be back soon to kill your pathetic little team” he choked Ianto some more with an almost fond look on his face, “But I think I’ll keep you a little bit longer, Mr Jones, and don’t worry” he chucked, “ _That’s not a threat, it’s a promise._ Isn’t that what you said to me all those months ago?”

“Let him go” Jack wished he had his gun, he would shoot the bastard where he stood, “I’ll go with you willingly, you can do what you want to me just let him go”

Angry, The Master tightened his grip further, causing Ianto to turn an alarming shade of purple as he tried to prise The Masters hands from his throat, “You don’t get it freak, you’re in no position to be making demands” he threw Ianto to the floor as he seemingly lost consciousness and advanced on Jack, “Can you hear it? My children are getting closer”

It all happened so fast, Jack’s eyes struggled to keep up. Ianto’s arm shot out like a viper, grabbing The Masters leg and yanking it out from under him, causing the timelord to fall to the ground with a thud. He saw Ianto struggling to his feet and scooped Toshiko up from the floor, ignoring the blood that smeared itself all over his front as he ran towards the boat, Owen and Dianne would have heard the commotion by now, they would be ready for them and have the boat prepared for a quick getaway. 

Jack could have sworn he heard Ianto following him, he was certain the man was right behind him up until he reached the pier and turned around to help him aboard only to see Ianto wasn’t there. Eyes darting around frantically Jack’s heart stopped when he saw Ianto on his knees surrounded by Toclafane. It was as if time slowed down as he locked eyes with him from across the field of grass, Ianto looked up at him with such sorrow and he knew before it happened that the idiot was going to do something stupid. He just had no idea how stupid Ianto could be.

He launched himself at The Master once again but this time he was ready, he knocked Ianto back down but before Jack could run to his aid he felt two pairs of hands yanking him aboard the boat. He kicked and flailed and shouted but it was no use, as the boat pulled away from the island the last thing Jack saw through the fog was his precious Ianto at the mercy of a madman.


	29. Transmission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meant to post this yesterday, oops. You can have two today instead

Waking up in the dark, bound by chains is never a good sign, no matter what Jack says, and Ianto barely contained his panic when he realised he wasn’t alone in… wherever he was, “Looks like he’s awake” a voice sounded to his right and as Ianto turned his head he realised he was blindfolded, how hadn’t he noticed that before now? Oh, yeah, he was probably concussed.

The Master had knocked him out when Jack escaped with the rest of the team, Ianto vaguely remembered being transported someplace but it was a bit of a blur. He was certain of one thing though, he’d landed himself in a world of hurt. He’d be lucky if The Master killed him, death would be a mercy compared to the hell that monster was capable of dealing out. Ianto only prayed it would be a quick death and that Jack wouldn’t be foolish enough to try and rescue him.

Ianto never said he wasn’t a hypocrite.

“Remove his blindfold” another voice ordered and Ianto almost wept when he recognised it, the blindfold was ripped off roughly and after a few seconds of blinking furiously to adjust to the light, Ianto saw none other than Thompson staring back at him with a grim expression, “Hello again, thought you’d seen the last of me?”

He could only pray Thompson wouldn’t betray him again, that he was still on his side. Ianto stayed silent, he figured it would be his best bet, he didn’t want to die and with a possible friend on the inside he could bide his time until he got a chance to escape.

“What? Got nothing to say?” Another soldier spat, “I should cut your fucking tongue out for all the trouble you’ve caused, not so clever now are you?”

“The Master wants him in one piece” Thompson pushed the other soldier back as he went to advance on Ianto who was still chained on the ground, “He said we could play with the leftovers once he’d finished remember?”

And wasn’t that a horrifying thought in itself? Ianto almost wanted to provoke one of them into shooting him just to end it all but he knew Jack would never forgive him. This wasn’t the end, he’d survived worse odds, he’d make it through this just like he always did and push the memories deep down once he was free where they couldn’t hurt him.

The soldiers bickered for some more before they eventually left him alone once more, the blindfold stayed off but once the door to his cell was closed Ianto was submerged in darkness. He didn’t know how long he’d sat there chained up, he knew it must have been days at least as his body was slowly shutting down without water. How he had prayed for a drink, he should have known The Master had something evil up his sleeve.

Blinking awake, Ianto felt freezing water lap at his toes but it didn’t stop there, in a matter of seconds the water was up to his knees and as he was still chained to the ground he stood no chance of raising himself up as the water crept up his chest. His cell as slowly being filled with ice cold water, like a fish tank and Ianto panicked as he realised what was happening, he was going to drown. As the water reached his chin he thrashed about violently in the darkness, he felt his shackles cut into his wrists as he pulled at them fruitlessly but he didn’t care.

He was going to die.

Water gushed down his throat as he gasped for air, he felt the burn as it filled his lungs and scrambled his brain, this was how he was going to die, not in the war, not for Torchwood, not in his lovers arms but thrashing about for a madman’s pleasure as water filled his lungs.

Until the water receded, just as suddenly as it flooded his cell and Ianto was barely aware the door had opened as he sat hunched over coughing up water for what felt like hours. That is, until a voice colder than the water he had almost just been killed by, spoke quietly, “You don’t think I’d let you go so easily, do you?”

Ianto used the last of his strength to raise his head and glare at The Master who was smiling serenely back down at him, he spat at his feet and received a kick to the face for it. Ianto thought it was worth it.

“Guards, bring him up to the deck in two hours” The Master ordered the men posted outside his cell door, “We have an announcement to make”

-

Jack had been slowly driving not only himself but everyone else around him insane since they fled from Flat Holm. Owen had been forced to knock him out more than once as he attempted to turn the boat around. He wanted Ianto back just as much as Jack did but if they turned back now they would die, it was better to retreat now and come up with a plan than to storm in guns blazing. For one they didn’t even have any guns and lets not forget they had a baby on board as well. Owen knew Ianto would want them to keep Nathan safe and it would kill him if he found out they put a child at risk to save his life.

They ended up hiding in one of Torchwood safe houses in Scotland, one that Jack kept off the books just in case. The place was empty but in piss poor condition, the roof had caved in on one side and there was little to no electricity or running water but it was safe, for now.

“We need to strike now,” Jack was demanding, looking like death warmed up as he stood at the end of the kitchen table waving his hands frantically, “We’ve waited too long already, it’s been two weeks, two weeks, since we left Ianto behind and-”

“We know Jack, don’t you think we’re just as desperate as you are right now?” Owen snapped

“You have no idea the torture I suffered at the hands of The Master, you have no idea what he is capable of,” Jack snarled, “I can’t just sit around and twiddle my thumbs while Ianto is out there slowly dying”

“Jack, we want to get him back too” Tosh promised him, “Before I lost power, I received a message from Gwen, they have a man on the inside looking out for him. We’ll get him back soon”

“Soon isn’t good enough” Jack gulped, jumping slightly when the radio next to him crackled, “There’s a transmission coming through” he pounced on it, twiddling the nobs until a familiar voice spluttered out of it, “Owen, TV now!” he meant it as an order but it sounded more like a plea even to his own ears. The TV was small, it reminded Jack awfully of the very first one Ianto had bought, he’d looked so damned pleased with it as he showed it off for the coronation. Before that memory had always brought a smile to Jacks face, now he just wanted to cry. The screen was cracked but the whole team, Beth and Dianne included, gasped as a barely recognisable Ianto was paraded in front of them.

“Hello my loyal subjects!” The Master was grinning and it was all Jack could do not to throw up as his eyes were glued to his lovers shaking form, he looked awful, “I have a message today for those who seek to oppose me, next to me is a man who tried to stop me, I want you all to see what will happen if you try and do the same”

Tears fell unbidden from Jack’s eyes as he watched the man he loved fall to his knees in pain. He didn’t cry out, not once and Jack wasn’t sure if he was proud of Ianto or horrified because of it. The Master did unspeakable things, returned the harm Ianto had dealt to him tenfold before the transmission suddenly cut out.

“We are going to get him back” Dianne surprised them all by speaking first, her tone deadly, “And we are going to kill The Master”

-

Ianto wept alone in his cell as his body screamed in pain, he felt as though every fibre of his being was ripping itself apart and burning the remains. He had never felt agony like it and he had been through a lot. He’d been shot in the leg in the war, attacked by a weevil outside his own home, he’d been frozen in a drawer for over half a century, he’d received another bullet wound from Owen, he’d been a reluctant participant of a weevil fight club and almost bled to death saving Jack from the very monster that held him captive now. When he said it like that he was surprised he was still alive.

Part of him wanted to die, he wanted the pain to stop but another bigger part of him kept on fighting. He wasn’t sure how long that part would survive. He’d been locked in the darkness for so long now, his body broken and abused as was his mind. Thompson did his best but the other man just wasn’t enough, he fed him and hosed him down but he couldn’t intervene when The Master came down to hurt him. It was the updates that Ianto cherished the most, a hushed whisper that Gwen had blown up a shipment of weapons or a quiet hiss that Martha Jones and The BlueLady had escaped from Japan before it burned. 

There had been numerous attempts at boarding the Valiant but none had yet succeeded, Ianto could only pray that Jack wasn’t stupid enough to come looking for him. That he wouldn’t risk himself after everything Ianto did to free him in the first place. He would hate for his sacrifice to have been in vain.

The time between visits were getting longer though, as the weeks passed by The Master found other ways to spend his time and Ianto would have been grateful if not for the fact that their time together had grown even more violent as a result. He seemed to irk The Master just by existing and Ianto knew something was wrong when he grew back a tooth that had been wrenched from his mouth. You weren’t supposed to be able to grow back teeth. Ianto didn’t have long to dwell on the fact though as The Master found a new way of torturing him, “This way Mr Jones” he grinned like a shark as his guards dragged his broken body down the hall, “I’ve got someone you’ll be happy to see”

Ianto was thrown into a new cell, it was larger than his own but equally dark, he could just about make out a figure huddled in the corner crying, “Steven?”


	30. Deal or No Deal

Steven launched himself at Ianto and sobbed loudly into his shoulder, “He shot my mum” he wept, “He killed her and brought me here, Uncle Ianto, I’m scared”

“I’m so sorry Steven” Ianto clung to him just as tightly, “I’ll protect you, I swear. I’ll die before I let anyone touch you” and he meant it too, he would lay down his life for this boy in an instant. If The Master thought by bringing him here it would weaken him he was wrong, Steven had given him another reason to keep fighting, “Everything will be fine, I’ve got you now” he whispered into the boys hair as he cried quietly on his shoulder, “I’ve got you”

They sat in the darkness for hours before The Master returned to drag Ianto back to his own cell, “As touching as this is, you need-”

“You will not harm this boy” Ianto spoke in a deadly calm tone, “Do what you wish to me but he is innocent and I won’t let you hurt him” Steven was shaking like a leaf in his arms and Ianto would die before he let The Master touch him.

“You’re in no position to make demands” The Master taunted, “I shall do as I please”

Ianto knew bargaining with a madman was beyond insane but what choice did he have, “I’ll do anything, name it, but Steven isn’t to be harmed”

The Master got a glint in his eye and Ianto knew he’d signed his death warrant, “Anything, you say? Well that’s certainly interesting” The Master clicked his fingers and a guard entered the room, “Take the boy to The Doctors cell, he can keep him company for now. Mr Jones and I are going to have a little chat”

“Uncle Ianto?” Steven pleaded with wide eyes as he was dragged away, Ianto would have followed if another hadn’t restrained him

“What do you want?” He asked The Master dubiously, if his magical grin was anything to go by it couldn’t be anything good

“You are a beacon of hope to the resistance I am facing,” The master admitted bitterly, “I want you to send them a message telling them to stop, for every base they attack from now on I will starve the boy for a week. Make them see sense”

The Resistance or Steven, one life for millions and Ianto had to decide

“Fine”

-

Gwen sat with her head in her hands as her men waited for her verdict, Ianto’s latest transmission was heart wrenching. To see the man she had looked up to, had fought for every day since they parted ways, look so broken and empty had made her sick to her stomach. What he was asking… she didn’t know if she could do it, “Does anyone have anything to say on the matter?” Gwen turned to her men, her friends, for their opinions knowing she couldn’t make this decision herself.

Wilkinson was the first to speak up, “Agent Jones must have a plan, this must be all a part of a bigger picture we can’t see. He would never ask us to disband”

Rayner however, disagreed, “He’s only doing it because of the child, The Master has found a pressure point and is exploiting it. We can’t stop everything for the sake of one child, we’d be condemning thousands of others”

Gwen licked her lips and turned to the last man who hadn’t yet spoken, “Abbot?”

Tony took a deep breath, “Agent Jones saved my life, saved so many lives but…” he looked back at the now mercifully blank screen, “That man we just saw, that wasn’t Agent Jones, I say we go ahead with our plans and destroy the weapons truck heading East tomorrow”

“Thank you,” Gwen sighed, “You are dismissed, you’ll have your orders by sun up” she hated to do this to Ianto but Rayner and Tony were right, it was one life for thousands and she couldn’t make that choice. She could only hope he would forgive her.

-

Jack cursed as his latest attempt at sneaking aboard the Valiant was foiled, after the first three attempts Toshiko and Beth had bowed out. The resistance needed them in Japan, rebuilding after The Master burnt it to the ground. Four goes later and Owen had almost tore himself apart trying to decide between his teammate and his family. Jack had made the choice for him and sent both him and Dianne away to France with Nathan to help as best they could.

And so now he was alone, he would never give up, as long as Ianto drew breath he would fight for him.

He was looking for shelter in the middle of nowhere when he stumbled upon two women he had thought he’d never get the pleasure of seeing again, “Well what are two lovely ladies like yourselves doing in a place like this?” He tried his best to smile as Martha span around and Chantho held him at gunpoint

“Jack?” Martha blinked slowly as a smile of disbelief spread across her own face, “Oh my god” she rushed forward and pulled him into a bone crushing hug, “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story but,” Jack felt the familiar pang in his chest when he said the next five words, “I’m trying to save Ianto”

“Oh Jack” Martha pulled him in for another hug and dragged him down to sit by the small fire they had burning, “I’m so sorry”

“What are you doing here?” He asked instead, changing the subject to something that hopefully wouldn’t have him in tears

“We’re on our way to a village not far from here” Martha told him about their travels and generally tried to keep him distracted from his own mission for a while

Chantho chipped in every now and then, blushing when Jack put a hand on her knee, “Chan, it is good to see you again Captain, tho”

“You too Blue” Jack sighed as Martha stretched, doing a double take when he saw what she was wearing on her wrist, “Is that my Vortex Manipulator?”

“Yes” Martha sounded surprised as he started pawing at it, “I couldn’t get it to work” she told him as he practically tore it from her wrist

Jack almost cried when he held the familiar leather between his fingers, “You just have to know how to use it, do you know what this means?” He stood up immediately and started keying in coordinates, “I can rescue Ianto, be in and out of there without anyone noticing”

“But Jack-” Martha went to stop him, he hadn’t thought this out, he would need a plan but Jack was gone in a flash of light before she could stop him

“Chan, this is not good, tho” Chantho rubbed her hands up and down her arms to keep warm, “Chan, do you think he will come back, tho?”

“I have no idea” Martha whispered, watching her breath cloud in front fo her before settling down to huddle by the fire again, it was too late to do anything to stop Jack now. All she could do was hope he kept his head and didn’t do anything stupid.

She really didn’t know Jack that well


	31. 13 Days Long

It had been 13 days since Ianto was forced to send a message to Gwen and the resistance begging them to stop what they were doing. 13 long days of being dragged down to Steven’s cell to watch as the young boy withered away without food, The Master would concoct a new nature of torture for Ianto each day to decide weather or not the boy would be given water. The rules were simple, if Ianto completed the task or endured the assault, Steven would be given a drink, if not he went without.

Ianto had been stabbed, drowned, suffocated, he’d been forced to brawl in unfair fights with soldiers for The Masters amusement, walk across hot coals and scrub himself clean with steel wool. He’d been teetering on a knives edge for so long now that he could barely remember a time before he was a prisoner. If not for Steven, Ianto feared he might have given up but the boy was counting on him to survive and Ianto would undergo any amount of suffering to prolong Steven’s life.

On the Fourteenth day Ianto had been forced to watch as The Master taunted another, he was helpless to stop the madman as he ordered his Toclafane to kill the woman slowly and was dragged back to his cell once the show was over. He was covered in her blood, he could taste it on his tongue and if he had anything left in his stomach he knew it’d be emptied all over the floor.

He must have lost consciousness as the darkness shrouded him once more because the next thing he knew he was jerking awake to the sound of alarms. At first he thought it a new an unusual form of punishment but as time went on and nothing else happened Ianto started to suspect it was something else.

He was sat in the darkness of his cell, shivering and coated in flaking blood when the door swung open letting light flood in suddenly. Squinting, Ianto could barely make out the figure in front of him until oh so familiar hands were on his wrist undoing the binds, “Jackson?” He choked out with a mixture of disbelief and terror, he wondered if this is how Jack felt when he came for him all those months ago because if it was Ianto didn’t give him enough credit for holding himself together for so long after.

-

Jack arrived on the Valiant silently, sticking to the shadows as he crept around trying to find where Ianto was being held. He checked the engine room first but found nothing but machines, in the end he resorted to following a couple of guards as quietly as he could, it wasn’t until he turned his fifth corner that he was spotted and shoved into an empty cell off the side of one of the many winding corridors, “Are you fucking insane?” The guard hissed at him and Jack recognised the man after a moment as Thompson, the turned agent currently acting as their man on the inside, “Honestly between you and Jones it’s as if you want to screw me over”

“Where is he?” Jack didn’t have time for this, “We’ll be out of your hair in no time”

Thompson looked exasperated and more than a little panicky, “The lower levels, The Master has him in a secure cell” he caught Jacks arm before he could disappear again, “Aren’t you here for the boy as well?”

“The boy?” Jack didn’t understand, “Who?”

Thompson mirrored his confused expression, “Steven, he’s being kept on the floor above but his security is even tighter”

Jack felt the bottom of his stomach fall out as the new reality of the situation sank in, Steven was here, The Master had Steven in his clutches, “I’ll kill him” Jack growled, fresh fury flashing in his eyes. 

He’d rescue his boys and return to end this mess, The Master would rue the day he stepped foot on Earth and tried to mess with those Jack loved. 

This ended tonight.

-

Ianto wobbled violently on his unsteady legs as Jack hauled him to his feet, his touch burned but Ianto was in no position to complain as Jack pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, “Hold on tight, don’t let go of me” he whispered, activating his Vortex Manipulator just as a guard barged into the cell and shouted for backup.

He was too late though, Jack had already typed in the new coordinates and teleported them away. He’s done the impossible, he’d rescued Ianto Jones.

Teleportation was a nasty business, it put even the healthiest of people through the ringer and considering recent events, Ianto was in no state to travel, “Oh god” he groaned, eyes screwed tight shut as he collapsed back down to his knees, flinching away from Jack’s hands as he tried to help him back up, “No!”

Jack felt helpless as he watched Ianto curl up into a bloody ball of woe in front of him, “Ianto?” He crouched down next to him but kept his hands to himself, “Ianto it’s me, you’re safe now”

Eyes snapping open, Ianto looked around frantically, “Steven-” 

“I got him out first” Jack swallowed as he pushed the image of Steven starving in a dirty cell to the back of his mind, “He’s safe with Owen and Dianne, I had to come back for you”

“No Jack, The Master has Steven!” Ianto insisted, too panicked to listen to what he was being told, “He’s starving him because I didn’t-”

“Shh, Ianto listen to me” Jack reached out and cradled one of his hands gently between his own, “Hey,” he tilted his head up so they could look one another in the eye, “I got him out, Steven is safe. He’s free”

“Free?” Ianto blinked rapidly, taking in his surroundings, “Where are we?”

Checking his wrist strap, Jack frowned, “Germany… I must have input the wrong coordinates” he couldn’t risk another jump with Ianto in this condition though, “There’s a camp five miles north of here though, a resistance camp” he took stock of Ianto’s injuries, seeing nothing but a few bruises and cuts, “We can probably make it there before nightfall but we have to be careful, the patrols are fierce here”

“I don’t know if I can walk that far” Ianto admitted bitterly, “You should go on-”

Jack cut him off, “Carrying you? Yeah that’s what I thought” he wasn’t about to leave the idiot behind after everything he’s been through to save him, “Are you alright?” He asked with wide eyes as Ianto hissed when he touched him, “Where does it hurt?”

“I’m fine” Ianto lied, he wasn’t sure why Jack’s touch was hurting him but he knew it couldn’t be good. He would figure it out later, “Let’s go”

-

Owen watched Steven wolf down another portion of rice and silently slid a third bowl in front of him, the poor kid was thin as a rake and on the cusp of starvation. If he didn’t know The Master was a monster this would be the only proof he needed, “So,” he looked the boy up and down, “How are you feeling?”

“Hungry” Steven mumbled through mouthfuls of rice, “When’s uncle Jack coming? He said he had to go get uncle Ianto but that he’d be right back”

“I dunno” Owen shrugged as he checked his watch, it had been half an hour since Jack appeared out of thin air with the child in his arms sprouting about how he had to go back for Ianto. His instructions were clear, Owens as to protect Steven until Jack got back, he just had no idea how long that would take, “Can I get you something to drink?”

Steven nodded enthusiastically, “More water?” It had taken a while for him to talk to Owen but if Uncle Jack trusted him then so could he, “Please”

“Coming up” Owen slid out from the table and grabbed another cup of water from the kitchen, Dianne was in there breast feeding Nathan and raised an eyebrow at him in question, “Jack and Ianto’s ex-wives adopted child’s son” he explained before heading back in to give the boy his drink, “Here you go”

“Thank you” Steven gulped it down greedily as Owen’s coms pinged on the counter, “What’s that?”

Snatching it up, Owen read the message waiting for him, “A message, says your uncle fuc- messed up his teleport thing and ended up in Germany. He’s taking Ianto to the base north of Berlin”

“He got him out?” Dianne startled him, appearing behind him in a flash with wide eyes, “Isn’t that the base Gwen’s currently stationed at?”

“Looks like their due a reunion” Owen shook his head, what he wouldn’t give to be fly not he wall for that conversation

-

Beth stuck down another batch of Toclafane with ease, shattering them to pieces with a battle roar as she swung her blade like arms around wildly, “It’s clear!” She shouted to the civilians she’s been sent in to rescue, “Follow Bartholomew, he’ll lead you to safety” Beth pointed a spike at the man waiting off to the side with a friendly smile and breathed a sigh of relief when he lead them to safety

“You know, your blades are kind of growing on me” Tosh’s voice sounded in her ear and startled a laugh out of Beth, “It’s true, and that Battle cry was… interesting”

“Should have know you’d make this weird” Beth crinkled her nose, her mother had been right you did have to watch out for the quiet ones, “Can you at least wait until we’re in the same room before you start whispering dirty things into my ear?”

Tosh just laughed in response, “Why else would I have designed a secure channel if not to talk to my girlfriend”

It had taken Beth a while but eventually after a lot of practice she had gained some control over her abilities, she could whip out the blades whenever she needed, it just took a little longer to switch back to normal. In correlation to this she had also been asked by the Resistance to lead more of the rescue missions for civilians trapped in the labour camps because of her unique advantage. As far as they knew she was the only weapon they had capable of taking those things out as long as you didn’t count the two displacement guns currently in Agent Coopers possession. Then again they could only buy the user some time before the Toclafane came back.

“I’m coming back now, just going to give the building one last sweep” Beth whispered, arms ready to strike if needs be as she crept around silently

“Be careful” Tosh warned her, she hated being stuck behind the lines unable to do anything to keep the love of her life safe besides whisper words of encouragement but she knew she’s be nothing more than a distraction in the field.

Smirking, Beth rounded a corner and rolled past a doorway dramatically, “When aren’t I?”

She got a one word response and cringed at the reminder, “Tokyo”

“Touché” Tokyo indeed, they never need speak of that incident again.

-

Jack’s arms were complaining at the weight of Ianto after the first two miles but he persisted, it wasn’t until they reached the three and a half mile mark that he had to admit defeat, “Ianto, do you think you can walk?”

“Finally” his lover practically leapt free, a little off balance but able to walk. They hadn’t spoken much since Jack rescue him and the silence was more heavy than usual, “So,” Ianto cleared his throat as they walked side by side, wincing at how awkward things were. Things had never been awkward to this extent before, he just had to push through it, “I never thanked you for breaking me out”

“No thanks necessary,” Jack watched him carefully, “I’m only sorry it took me so long… Ianto, what he did-”

“I don’t want to talk about it” Ianto shuddered, the memories still fresh, “Let’s talk about something else, please”

“Okay,” Jack could give him that, distract him from himself for a while, “Tell me about what happened after I left, get up to anything fun in my absence?”

Thinking back to what felt like years ago, Ianto tried to focus, “Fun? I suppose, I expanded the family a little”

Surprised, Jack raised an eyebrow, “You hired more people?” He let him hand brush the back of Ianto’s in a not so subtle hinting manner

“No” Ianto allowed Jack to take his hand and breathed through the pins and needles beneath his skin, “Three alien Tortoises came through the rift, I sort of adopted them” why did he feel so shy about that? And why was he suddenly so crushed to realise they were probably dead now, “They were pink and purple, I bought a tank and put them in the sitting room”

“What did you call them?” Jack asked as they walked in tandem

Ianto was shocked to feel the beginnings of a smile spread across his lips, “Aristurtle, Voldetort and Donnashello” he peeked at Jack out of the corner of his eye and saw a similar smile on his own lips, “I thought you would find it amusing when you got back”

“Well,” Jack brought this hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, “I did, thank you Ianto” they were getting close now, “It’s not much further until we reach the camp, once we get there we can get you back to full health and have anther go at teleporting to Owen and Dianne, they’ll take care of Steven until we get there”

Thinking, Ianto stared at his bare feet as they carrier him forward, “You could go without me, Steven needs you more than I do, he was The Masters prisoner for weeks”

Squeezing his hand, Jack had already made up his mind, “Well maybe I need you more than he needs me. When I lost you Ianto, something snapped in me. I can’t lose you again”

“You won’t” he couldn’t really make that promise but Ianto knew Jack needed to hear it nonetheless, “We’re in this together, right?”

“Right” Jack echoed as they approached the camp, “Hang on,” he pulled Ianto behind him as someone started running towards them, “Who-”

Ianto’s eyes grew wide, he would recognise that unruly main of black hair anywhere, “Gwen!”


	32. Red Hot Sand

Ianto had never been a touchy-feeling kinda guy but when he reached Gwen it was like second nature to envelope the woman in a bone-crushing hug, he hadn’t realised how much he had missed her until she was right there in front of him, alive and kicking, “Gwen,” he was hit with the sudden urge to cry in relief but managed to refrain, “Thank god”

Pulling away but keeping her hands clasped tightly around Ianto’s arms, Gwen took stock of him, “Ianto, I can’t believe it, what happened?”

“Lots” Ianto replied, eyes closed as he enjoyed her soothing touch while he could. He had no idea why Jack’s hands seemed to burn him, he knew it couldn’t be anything good and that he should probably at least mention it but it was hardly important right now, “What about you? How-”

“Gwen Cooper, long time no see” Jack interrupted, placing a hand on the small of Ianto’s back, not missing the slight wince before he pulled away, “Any chance you’ve got room for us at the inn?” He carried on without pause

“Of course, come on” Gwen looped an arm around Ianto’s waist and supported him as best she could when Jack made no move to do it, “This way, we’ve got some tents set up in the main section of camp. Makes I’m a celeb look like a holiday retreat it does, but it’s the best we can do”

“You’re a lifesaver Gwen,” Ianto rested his head on her shoulder lightly, “It’s good to be back”

“Cooper and Jones” she teased lightly, “The comedy detectives reunited at last”

Huffing, Ianto allowed himself to smile as he caught sight of Jack’s confused frown, “You’re lucky I like you”

-

Steven was fast asleep, curled up in a ball looking innocent as he snuffled occasionally under the pile of blankets Owen had managed to produce for him. Owen found it hard to even look at the poor waif without his fatherly instincts kicking in, “Nathans made me soft,” he whispered to Dianne as she rocked their son gently, “I’m seriously resisting the urge to smother that kid”

Dianne scoffed quietly, “You’ve always been a softie you lug, you just didn’t realise it yet”

Owen wanted to object but knew better than to argue, “Fair enough, it still doesn’t change the fact I wanted to make him some warm milk before bed” he really should be concerned he’d attached himself so quickly to Steven, especially since he was basically Jack’s kid and would be leaving soon, but it wasn’t like Owen could help it. Nathan had awoken some sort of paternal instinct in him, he was turning into a mother hen for Christ sake, just yesterday he stopped on his way to refill their water to help a bird that had fallen from it’s nest. The Owen Harper of 6 months ago would have rolled his eyes and let nature take it’s course

“I like it,” Dianne smiled as she set Nathan down in his make shift cot, “I think it’s sexy”

“Oh yeah?” Owen smirked, “What if I told you I sang Nathan a lullaby last night while you were cleaning up?”

Dianne’s smile grew wider, “Doctor Harper, you should know better than to flirt with me when we have company”

Damn, that’s right. Owen glanced over at Steven who was still fast asleep, “Alright, I’ll rein in my sexiness for now but as soon as the kid leaves I won’t be held responsible for any sexual-tension-induced ravishing”

“You really are a charmer” Dianne rolled her eyes fondly, “Come on, we’d better catch some sleep before Nath decides sleeping is a bad idea”

Owen resisted making an innuendo about her being so eager to get him into bed and instead helped Dianne with the spare bedding, “Sweet dreams”

-

Beth slipped into the small dingy room she and Toshiko were currently sleeping in and smiled affectionately at the sight of her girlfriend asleep propped up on the one crate they were using as a chair. Tosh had obviously tried to stay up until she got back from the latest raid on The Master’s supply trains but had fallen asleep in the process, “Hey, babe” she shook her gently and blocked the fist flying at her face with ease, “It’s me” Tosh had a bad habit of trying to hit anyone who awoke her and after the first few black eyes Beth had grown accustomed to it

“Beth?” Tosh yawned as she blinked sleepily, “You’re back”

“Yup, I missed you” She said right off the bat, crouching down to rest her chin on Toshiko’s knee, “It’s not the same waking up without someone trying to pummel me to death”

Tosh had the decency to blush but she didn’t apologise, her reflex’s had saved her more than once over the last few months, “Did everything go okay?”

“Better than,” Beth closed her eyes as Tosh softly brushed her fingers through her hair, “It was a weapons reserve, soldiers are being outfitted as we speak”

Tosh hummed and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “You look exhausted”

“Thanks” Beth laughed, “Love you too”

“You know what I mean,” Tosh got to her feet and pulled her girlfriend down to the surprisingly comfortable pallet that they had fashioned on the floor, “Sleep, I’ll wake you in a few hours, we can go over the debrief and grab a bite to eat later”

Beth looked up adoringly at the love of her life, “What would I do without you?”

“Let’s pray we never have to worry about that” Tosh said simply before pulling the covers over them and telling Beth to go to sleep, they could talk more later.

-

Martha hiked up her backpack and looked over her shoulder to check Chantho was keeping up with her relentless pace, they were currently wading their way down river in the middle of a dense African rainforest in search of a large tribe they had been told about that had been left mostly untouched by the Toclafane. It was far from easy, the weather alone was enough to make Martha feel almost dizzy and she was slightly concerned about Chantho seeing as this was pretty much as far out of her comfort zone they had ever been in, “Everything alright back there?”

“Chan, I am fine, tho” Chantho was panting a little but she knew her own limits, “Chan, if we could go a little slower, tho”

“Of course,” Martha looked up through the canopy of trees and tried to gauge how many hours of daylight they had left, “Do you need water?”

“Chan, no, tho” Chantho declined, blinking slowly as a wave of dizziness hit, “Chan, I am just tired, tho”

Martha eyed her with concern but didn’t push, “Well we should be nearly there” she assured her, “Shouldn’t take us much longer now”

Chantho nodded, pulling in deep breaths, “Chan, this is good, tho” her body was not built for this climate, Chantho almost missed the icy mountains they had climbed last month. Not that she let on, she and Martha had an important job to do, the fate of the planet depended on it. 

Literally.

-

Jack was taken aback slightly with the ease Ianto and Gwen operated around each other, he didn’t know if he was more envious of the way Ianto didn’t flinch back from her touch or proud of the fact they made such a great team. He supposed, maybe he was a little jealous of the way they acted in tandem but that was only because he was used to Ianto always being _his_ partner in practically everything and he would never admit so aloud, “So, you two are closer than I remember” smooth Jack, real smooth

Gwen had invited them back to her tent and got Ianto cleaned up in a flash, she’d given them food and water, a change of clothes and medical attention but it didn’t look like she was prepared to take on a surly Captain, “Well, we’ve been through a lot together,” Gwen shot Ianto a small smile, “And that was before everything went to shit”

“God, remembering before the world ended feels like years ago” Ianto mused, “Team bonding nights, shouting at Owen”

“Having you over for dinner at my place once I found out you were a terrible cook” Gwen added

Jack was seriously resisting the urge to pout, feeling left out when they didn’t show signs of stopping, “Hot chocolate and crying on the hub sofa” Ianto teased, “The TV remote”

When Gwen burst into laughter, Jack couldn’t take it anymore, “What? What did I miss?” He was used to having Ianto all to himself, _they_ had inside jokes, _they_ made each other laugh, _they_ were a team, he didn’t like the feeling settling in the bottom of his gut and it was growing larger by the minute as Gwen and Ianto spoke in riddles

“It’s nothing” Gwen shrugged it off with a silly smile

Ianto rolled his eyes, shaking his head when Jack gave him the puppy dog eyes, “You had to be there”

Jack got the distinct feeling he was the Mickey Smith in this situation, “Right” surely he, The Doc and Rose weren’t this ostracising back in the day, “Well I think it’s about time we turn in for the night, we’ve got to get going in the morning once Ianto is feeling better” Gwen may have a new emotional connection with Ianto but Jack had a trump card to beat all other trump cards. 

A blowjob before bed never fails to reaffirm their bond, sounds like just what the doctor ordered.

“You can have my tent for the night, give you two some privacy” Gwen winked not so subtly at Ianto, “I’ll be around if you need me but don’t disappear off in the morning without finding me first, we still have a lot to discuss”

“Of course Gwen” Ianto followed her to the tent’s threshold, not sure if he was ready to let her out of his sight yet but not really given much choice in the matter, “We’ll catch up in the morning”

“I’m counting on it, word is you socked Saxon round the jaw, now _that’s_ a story I want to hear” Ianto watched her go and nearly damn well went after her when Jack placed a hand on his shoulder, the contact stinging something horrid

“Hey,” Jack’s lips brushed against his ear, his lover mistaking his shiver for one of excitement, “Looks like it’s just you and me, alone in this room, as long as it takes”

Ianto thought he could handle it but when Jack’s hands slid down his sides to grasp his hips he couldn’t help but squirm away with a hiss, “Jack!”

A worried yet stern look settled on Jack’s face as he pulled his hands away, “I knew something was wrong” he sounded both concerned yet resigned, “What is it Ianto?” He hated to see his lover in pain, especially when he was the cause of it

“I don’t know” Ianto admitted feeling helpless, “Somethings wrong”

“Wrong” Jack repeated, looking him up and down slowly, “Wrong how? Emotionally, mentally, physically?”

“Your touch” Ianto felt horrible saying it, he knew it was going to hurt Jack just as much as it was hurting him but he couldn’t carry on feeling like his flesh was burning whenever Jack touched him, “It stings”

Jack was trying to piece everything together but he didn’t have enough information, “All touch?” He had to narrow it down

“No,” Ianto swallowed regretfully, “Just yours”

Jack felt like he was at least 60% echo at this point, “Just mine?”

“I can’t explain it, it wasn’t so bad at first, more like a fizzing or a tickle but as time’s gone on it’s gotten worse” maybe he should have said something sooner

“The Master has got to be behind this, what sort of game is he playing?” Jack growled, “Whatever he’s done there has to be a way to reverse it. This all started after he captured you on the island-”

“Actually,” Ianto cleared his throat, “It started before then, pretty much since I woke up after rescuing you” he could see the grief as clear as day on his lovers face at the idea of unintentionally hurting him for so long, “It wasn’t bad, not in the beginning. Like I said it was more like a tickle, a humming under my skin, it first started really bothering me when we were on the boat heading towards Flat Holm but even then it wasn’t anything like this”

“And what does ‘this’ feel like?” Jack prodded, putting a lockdown on his emotions for a moment so he could figure this mess out

Ianto tried to find the words, “Like a burning itch” he frowned, “Like hot sand being rubbed into my skin, like crawling over red hot needles”

“So extremely unpleasant” Jack summed up, he wanted to reach out to comfort Ianto but stopped himself as he realised that would just do the exact opposite, “We’ll figure this out” he promised

“We always do” Ianto saw Jack’s need for comfort and tugged gently on his lovers shirt sleeve, “I love you Jack, that will never change” he wasn't sure what else to say but figured he’d done alright when Jack’s brow unfurrowed

“I love you too” Jack swallowed against the hopelessness he was feeling but vowed he wouldn’t stop fighting until he could hold Ianto in his arms once more.

He was sure The Master was behind this, just one more reason to make him pay.


	33. Cooper and Jones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry it’s been a while. Life has been kicking my arse lately and I just haven't found the time. Just know that while I may take little breaks every now and then, this story will 100%, definitely, absolutely, undoubtedly be completed eventually.

Without any new leads or insight into Ianto’s condition, Jack felt powerless to help him, he couldn’t even hug the other man for Christ’s sake. He’d brought him back from the Valiant but Ianto was (for the time being) out of reach, the thought of holding the other man in his arms was all that had kept Jack going for the longest time and now they were together again, breathing the same air, within reaching distance and yet still so far apart.

“I could kiss you anyway” Ianto offered, breaking the silence that had fallen over them as they tried to catch some shut eye on opposite sides of the tent, “I can handle it”

Jack smiled despite himself and propped himself up on one arm so he could see Ianto better, “If I thought even for a second that you’d find it pleasurable I’d be all over you” he gave him a teasing look, “But you know as well as I do that you don’t have a pain kink, the last and _only_ time I tried spanking you during sex I got a foot to the jaw for my efforts”

Ianto felt heat creeping up his cheeks as he pushed the memory away, “We agreed to never speak of that incident” he had almost blessedly forgotten about that, he really didn’t mean to kick his lover in the face but when confronted with a slapped arse his body had reacted impulsively, “You know how sorry I was about that”

“Nothing to be sorry about” Jack wanted to feel bad for dredging up the embarrassing memory but he was actually soothed by it, so what if Ianto and Gwen had made a few memories without him? He and Ianto had years worth of anecdotes and inside jokes between them, there was no need to be jealous. Not that he was in the first place, “If I’m remembering correctly you more than made up for it”

“Yes, well…” Ianto cleared his throat, “It wasn’t exactly a hardship”

“Oh you were _plenty_ hard” Jack couldn’t resist, he’d left himself wide open for that one, “Not that I’m complaining, far from it”

“You’re incorrigible” Ianto rolled his eyes

Jack grinned, “And proud”

Ianto sighed and rolled onto his side so he could look at Jack without straining his neck, he lay there for a while in silence letting his eyes dart over his lovers form. Jack was really here, after everything. They were together but it wasn’t enough, “I miss you” Ianto whispered, eyes settled on Jack’s as he used his words for once, “I… I’m not good at this, god knows I never manage to put my feelings into words properly but I do miss you,” he told him honestly, “Even blinking is an effort when I’m with you, all those milliseconds I’ve missed over the years, precious time I’ll never get back”

“Ianto” Jack murmured but the other man carried on

“I want to hate your Doctor you know, but I can’t” Ianto told him plainly, “He left you all alone with no answers, in limbo, never knowing how much time you had left but if he hadn’t have done that, I might not have met you.” He ran a hand down his face, “I defiantly wouldn’t have found you again after my trip through the rift and I know its selfish but I want to thank him for that, for doing this to you because I honestly don’t know if I can live without you anymore Jack”

Jack swallowed past the lump in his throat and forced himself to reply, curse Ianto for making him so emotional when he couldn’t even touch him, “I… God Ianto if you don’t know how much I love you by now I don’t know how else I can possibly prove it” he laughed to himself, “You were gone for over half a century and yet you slipped right back into my life like you were never gone, you’re the one, _my one_ and I never want to live in a world without you”

“In that case I’ll do my best to stay in one piece” Ianto tried for levity, “Can’t be that difficult, most people manage it alright”

“We’re not most people” Jack let him lighten the mood, there would be time for mushy love confessions later, hopefully, when Ianto no longer flinched at his touch, “We make quite the pair”

Ianto chuckled and shifted onto his back, looking at the tent above, “Don’t let Gwen hear you say that, she’ll get jealous”

“Ah, yes… the Jones and Cooper duo thing” Jack crinkled his nose up in slight distaste, not that Ianto saw him as he laughed off to the side

“Its Cooper and Jones actually,” Ianto corrected him, “Comedy detectives on the case”

“Hmm” Jack bit the inside of his cheek and resolutely ignored the questioning look Ianto was giving him

“Jack?” Ianto tilted his head to one side again and frowned when he didn’t get a response, “Something the matter?”

“Nope” he even popped the p to try and prove his point but Ianto just hummed clearly not believing him, “I’m good”

“Okay” Ianto drew the word out with narrowed eyes, “We should probably get some sleep, busy day tomorrow”

“Goodnight” Jack told himself to grow up and added, “Love you” it wouldn’t do to stress Ianto out on top of everything else

“I love you too” Ianto smiled at him and for the first time in too long Jack felt liked the sun had come out to shine down on him, was it so bad that he wanted Ianto all to himself? He wasn’t perfect, lord knows Ianto could be stubborn, he put himself in harms way far too often and could argue over nothing for hours, but Jack thought to himself, perfect was overrated anyway

-

Gwen loudly announced her presence the next morning before entering the tent she’d left her teammates in last night, surprised and slightly suspicious when she found them on opposite sides of the makeshift bedroom, “Did you two have a domestic?” She asked before she could stop herself, only a little embarrassed when Ianto rolled his eyes because when she glanced over at Jack she saw he was pouting, “Wait, really?” It was the end of civilisation as they knew it and they were having a domestic?

“Of course not, things are just a little complicated right now” Ianto huffed, running a hand through his hair in a vain attempt at making it presentable

Gwen raised an eyebrow, “Things are always complicated, what happened? Did he leave the toilet seat up? Forget your anniversary?”

“This isn’t funny Gwen, The Masters done something to Ianto” Jack warned her, “Some sort of sadistic torture, I’m the only one in the world that can’t touch him”

“We don’t know that” Ianto pointed out, “It could be a select group of people, it’s just you that we know of yet”

Gwen huffed and crossed her arms, “That’s just what we need, a sexually frustrated Jack Harkness, honestly Ianto you have no idea how much he mellowed out after you joined the team-”

“Thank you Gwen” Jack cut her off, “Ianto and I are going to check in with Owen and Dianne, see if he can figure out what’s going on, if not we’ll be visiting Tosh and Beth”

“How are you getting there?” Gwen asked, internally rolling her eyes at herself when Jack showed her his wrist, “Of course, do you want breakfast before you go? We have water if you want a wash” she didn't want them to go so soon but she knew they had to, sue her for wanting to spend time with her friends

“Are you trying to tell us something Gwen?” Ianto teased before he accepted the offer graciously, he felt like he was covered in a thick layer of grime and he couldn’t wait to feel clean again.

Only he forgot one thing until it was too late.

Water really sucked now.

“Ianto?” Jack’s silhouette was clear from behind the curtain Gwen had erected in the showering block to give the semblance of privacy, “Ianto are you okay?”

This honestly rated in the top ten of his most pathetic moments, Ianto thought to himself as he curled up in a naked sodden ball of misery as far away from the spraying water that he could get, “F-fine” his teeth chattered as Jack slipped around the curtain and immediately turned the water off after surveying the situation, “I’m f-fine” Ianto forced the stuttered words out as he pushed the vivid memory of his cell filling with water to the back of his mind, he was fine, he was safe now. He needed to get a grip.

“Yeah, no you’re not” Jack argued softly as he grabbed the towel he’d brought with him to wrap around Ianto’s shivering shoulders, “You need to take deep breaths”

“I’m fine” Ianto repeated like a mantra as he clung to the towel around his shoulders like it was a safety blanket, “I’m fine now”

Looking him over carefully, Jack resisted the urge to reach out and clasped his hands behind his back instead, “What happened?” He could guess obviously, he’s had some sort of flashback to his time on the Valiant or he might have started panicking and spiralled out of control, “You can talk to me”

“I don’t want to” Ianto closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, only opening them once he’d calmed down a little more, “I’m fine now Jack, it was just a blip and I don’t want to talk about it” talking about it wouldn’t help right now, he knew how his own brain worked handling his emotions. He couldn’t talk about it while the memories were still so raw, there would come a time later when he could open up but for now he had to get a grip and soldier on, “I’ll just get dressed and then we can go see if Owen can fix me, I could really do with a patented Jack Harkness Octopus hug right about now”

Allowing Ianto to control the situation, Jack fell back on innuendo and promised, “You’ll be getting more than a hug once this mess is sorted out” Ianto had his way of dealing with things and so did he, at least Jack’s way resulted a smile every so often.

-

Owen was midway through a sneeze when Jack and Ianto appeared in a flash in front of him, he wasn’t ashamed to admit he forewent wiping his nose before pulling the daft sod in for a tight hug, “You bastard, you had us all terrified” he scolded Ianto, blaming his sniff on the cold and nothing else

“Owen,” Ianto sank into the hug gratefully, it wasn’t Jack but it was contact and he hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed friendly touch until it was gone, “I missed you too”

“Uncle Ianto!” Steven came running into the room and barrelled into Ianto’s legs, if not for Owen steadying him, Ianto would have fallen over, “Uncle Jack got you out! He promised he would”

“Of course he did” Ianto forced himself to smile at the boy as guilt and shame washed over him, he could have done more for him, _should_ have done more when they were prisoners, “Have you ever known Uncle Jack to break a promise?”

“Of course not, who do you take me for?” Jack grinned easily as he scooped the boy up as if he weighed nothing, spinning him around until Steven squealed, “How are you feeling soldier?”

Steven answered him honestly, “Better but I’m still having nightmares” he looked up at Owen with a small smile, “But Owen always wakes me up when I have one”

“Good man” Jack slapped his medic on the shoulder, “Steven could you give us a minute, Owen needs to look Uncle Ianto over”

“Sure,” he looked at Ianto with concern clear in his eyes, “I’ll see if Dianne needs any help with Nathan, he’s started crawling and getting into mischief”

“We’ll be done soon enough but we might need to go on another trip soon, we’ll be back though” Jack crossed his heart and waited until Steven was out of earshot before turning back to Ianto and Owen, “Right, somethings wrong with Ianto”

“I figured” Owen scowled, “What is it? You look alright, maybe a little malnourished”

“I can’t touch Jack” Ianto explained, “And I don’t know why, it hurts when I try to”

Once a medic, always a medic, “Just Jack?” Owen reached out to touch Jack as if to test it wasn’t Jack with the issue instead, “When did it start?” He asked once he ruled that out

“After I woke up in the hub following rescuing Jack” Ianto licked his bottom lip, “But it’s gotten worse over time, at first it was like a humming under my skin, a tingle but now it’s more like a sharp stabbing pain”

“Hang on, I’ve got my scanner around here somewhere” Owen rooted through his bags, still mostly unpacked from their latest move, “It doesn’t have much charge left” he warned, waving it over Ianto a few times with a confused frown

“Well?” Jack peered over his shoulder to try and read the results, “What does it say?”

“Nothing,” Owen sounded annoyed as he scanned him again, “He’s reading as usual, his levels are pretty average, nothing to indicate alien tech being used”

“That can’t be right” Jack argued, “Try again”

“I already did, the machine isn’t wrong Jack” Owen looked Ianto up and down critically, making him feel like a lab rat, “Whatever’s going on this thing isn’t picking up on it”

Jack tried not to feel too disheartened but it wasn’t easy, “We’ve still got Tosh, she’ll be able to tell us what’s going on” he tried to reassure Ianto who was looking off to the side with a blank expression but it didn’t help much, “Thanks for trying Owen”

“Yes” Ianto finally spoke again, looking up at Owen, “Thank you”

“I’m just sorry I don’t have any answers for you mate” Owen looked at Jack with wide eyes as he came to a sudden realisation, “Hang on, you can’t touch him… that means… may whatever spiteful gods still exist have mercy on our souls, you’re not getting any are you?”

“Really?” Jack snapped, “That’s what you’re concerned about? Our relationship has always been more than meaningless sex. I’d appreciate it if people would stop looking at me like I’m a ticking time bomb because I haven’t gotten laid recently”

“Well…” Ianto flushed a little, “The sex definitely wasn’t a bad thing”

Owen laughed at the look on Jack’s face and threw his arm around Ianto’s shoulders, “I missed how you could get him to shut up with just a few words”

“It’s all in the delivery” Ianto winked and knew Jack was probably making a suggestive face behind his back without having to look over his shoulder to check, “What are we doing about Steven? Is Tosh in a secure location?”

“Not secure enough” Owen shook his head, “I’d say leave him here until you get back, he’s safer with me and Dianne”

“Dianne and I” Ianto corrected him light-heartedly, “Looks like all my hard work correcting your grammar over the last few months has been in vain”

“Whatever,” Owen clapped him on the back, “You guys better come back for the kid once this is all sorted”

“Of course,” Jack held his arm out for Ianto with a wink, “We’ll be back before you can say-” he zapped away without finishing his sentence and Owen wasn’t even surprised, Jack always did have a dramatic flair and Ianto only ever made it worse. He hoped they got this thing sorted out, he couldn’t be dealing with a sexually frustrated Jack on top of everything else.


	34. Intruding

There were more occasions than Ianto liked to admit throughout his life that he had handled poorly, he prided himself on knowing what to do in any given situation but it was only realistic to assume sometimes he would be caught off guard. He just didn’t like to admit it, much less add it to the list that had been growing exponentially since he arrived through the rift.

“Well, well, well” Jack grinned, much more at ease with the situation he and Ianto had found themselves in than his companion, “Toshiko, who knew you were so-”

“Jackson, turn your back!” Ianto hissed, face a flaming red as he forcibly turned his partner around as well, unknowingly slipping back into old habits as he scolded the man, “Toshiko I am so sorry, we’ll be going- where’s the door?”

Jack peeked over his shoulder to see Beth pointing at the other side of the room and shot her a wink before dragging Ianto out behind him, “Well, I don’t know about you but that’s certainly given me some ideas for when things are back to normal”

Mortified at what he had just intruded on, Ianto felt his face heat up even more, he didn’t even think that were possible at this point, “What?” His brain soon caught up and he shook his head venomously, “No, no absolutely not” he closed his eyes but was immediately assaulted by very vivid images of what he’d just seen, “How did Tosh even bend like that?” He asked before he realised his brain to mouth filter had been temporarily disarmed, “Don’t answer that” he held up a hand when Jack smirked

“Come on, it’s just sex” Jack laughed, trying to put him at ease, “So what if Beth and Tosh are a little kinky-”

“Please, for the love of god” Ianto wasn’t so immature he’d put his hands over his ears but it was a close call, “let’s just pretend that we never saw that”

Shrugging, Jack conceded, “Fine by me” he’d be more careful next time with the coordinates, no need to mentally scar his lover by intruding on anyone else engaged in intimate relations, “Ah, Toshiko, Bethany!” He greeted the two woman warmly as they joined them outside their bedroom now wearing a lot more clothing, “I’d say it was a pleasure but-” the smack he received around the back of the head for cheek well worth it until Ianto hissed and he remembered his lover had just caused himself more pain than he had dealt out, “But we’re here on business”

“Business? What sort of business?” Toshiko asked before remembering herself and smiling at Ianto awkwardly, “It’s good to see you again Ianto”

“Likewise” Ianto nodded, looking at his feet. They could do reunions later, right now they needed her help, “We have a bit of a problem, somethings wrong with me”

“He can’t touch me, just me” Jack continued as he saw Ianto’s shoulders hitch their way up to his ears, “We don’t know what’s wrong, Owen couldn’t find anything and we were hoping you would have some ideas”

Tosh frowned as she looked them both over quickly, “That’s odd” she said, “Why don’t the two of you join me in medical. Room we have set up and I’ll see if I can help”

“Thank you Toshiko,” Ianto smiled at her, eyes darting up to meet her own before hey flickered away again in embarrassment, “Lead the way”

-

Martha fought to stop her teeth from chattering as her and Chantho huddled together on the back of a rowing boat headed towards the shore, she needed people to see her as strong, reliable even. Not weak and unable to handle a little cold, “Over there” she raised a frozen arm and direct the men rowing towards a figure she could see signalling from the shore with an oil lamp

“Chan, I see him, tho” Chantho jumped out of the boat as they reached shallow water and helped the men drag the rowboat ashore. She offered Martha a hand to help her down once they were on dry land and smiled at the man who approached them.

“What’s your name, then?” Martha asked, looking the man up and down to see if he had any weapons

“Tom Milligan. No need to ask who you two are.” He smiled nervously at them, “The famous Martha Jones and the Lady in Blue, I wasn’t sure if the rumours were true but wow, they really are” he shook himself out of it and got back on track, “How long since you were last in Britain?”

“Chan, three hundred and sixty five days, tho” Chantho answered, ducking her head in greeting

Martha nodded along as she and Chantho followed Tom down the beach, “It’s been a long year”

-

“Well?” Jack tapped his foot impatiently as Tosh worked around him, “Anything yet?” He had much less patience than Ianto who was taking deep breaths and focusing on a water stain on the wall opposite him to try and keep his calm. When Tosh had drawn blood he’d experienced an entirely new reaction from his body and he hadn’t liked it one bit, the panic crawling up his throat, the twisting in his gut, it was safe to say he wasn’t a fan

“Let me work Jack” Tosh sighed as she checked her readings, “I can’t find anything unusual that would invoke this sort of reaction but I’m trying my best”

“You don’t know why this is happening either, do you?” Jack paced around pulling at his unkept hair

Tosh felt helpless, “Not yet” she hated the way Ianto seemed already resigned to his fate, “But I don’t have all the equipment I need, there are a few unexplored routes that could potentially give us the answer we’re looking for” she could see Ianto needed hope and she’d give it to him even if she had no idea what was going on with him, “There has to be an explanation”

“What do you need?” Jack stopped pacing and gave her his undivided attention

“There are a few things from the hub” Tosh told him cautiously, “But we’ll never be able to get inside, The Master has Toclafane patrolling the plass still”

“I can get in, with this” Jack showed her his Vortex Manipulator, “The Doctor fixed it, I’m good to go, just give me a list of all the stuff you need”

“Most of it will be in the Archives” Ianto spoke up for the first time since he’d arrived in the medical room, “I’ll be able to find everything quicker”

“Okay, we’ll both go” Jack agreed easily enough, he wasn’t in a hurry to leave Ianto’s side just yet anyway

“No” Ianto snapped, then quickly winced soon after and added in a softer tone, “No Jack, I should go alone”

“What? Why?” Jack crossed his arms, “I thought we agreed to stop trying to sacrifice ourselves for one another”

“I can’t” Ianto clenched his teeth as his body shuddered in pain, “I can’t be around you Jack, I thought I could handle it but the pain is nearing unbearable now”

Jack held his hands up in surrender, clearly confused, “I’m not even touching you” how could he be hurting him if they weren’t even touching?

“It’s gotten worse” Ianto explained as best he could, “Whatever’s going on, it’s getting stronger the longer I stay near you”

Taking a few steps back, Jack wrung his hands together, “Then I’ll go by myself-”

“We don’t have time to argue!” Ianto tried not to snap, he really did but it was difficult, “We don’t know how long I have left until whatever this is gets too intense to reverse” he held out his hand for Jack’s wrist strap but even that small gesture caused him to grit his teeth against a whimper of pain, “Let me go get whatever it is Tosh needs from the hub and then we can fix this once and for all”

He was right, they didn’t have time to argue. He needed to trust Ianto could do this on his own even if every fibre of his body was screaming at him to just go and do it himself. They were running out of time and he wouldn’t subject his lover to anymore pain just be sharing the same room as him. With a heavy heart, Jack unbuckled his Vortex Manipulator and handed it over after inputting the correct coordinates, “You’ll be coming back” it wasn’t a question

“We always find our way back to one another” Ianto forced a small smile, “Always”

-

Aboard the Valiant at that very moment The Master was dancing with his wife on the flight deck, twirling her around as he laughed at Francine who he’d reduced to a tea maid, if only precious little Martha Jones could see what he’d done to her family, she’d soon stop her little crusade then. The Master leapt onto his platform and rang the ships bell, indicating The Doctor should crawl out of the little tent he’d given him and beamed sadistically when his once great foe did exactly that.

“It’s ready to rise, Doctor” he taunted as he forced him into a wheelchair and took him for a push around the deck, “The new Time Lord Empire. It’s good, isn’t it?” He got no response, “Isn’t it good? Anything? No? Anything?” Still nothing, time to twist the knife a little then, “Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn’t they, those Toclafane, ever since you worked out what they really are. They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?”

“Leave her alone.” The Doctor didn’t meet The Masters eye, he wouldn’t give him that satisfaction

“But you said something to her, didn’t you?” He asked, “On the day I took control. What did you tell her?”

“I have one thing to say to you.” The Doctor told him, “You know what it is.”

The Master snarled and pursed the wheelchair away, “Oh no, you don’t!”

_“Valiant now entering Zone One airspace. Citizens rejoice.”_ The Tannoy announced, interrupting their little chat

Back in a good mood, The Master grinned, “Come on, people! What are we doing? Launch Day in twenty four hours.”

-

Chantho looked up at a statue The Master had built of himself as they walked by, barely holding back a look of disgust, “Chan, these things are all over Earth, tho” she explained when Tom gave her a funny look

“He’s even carved himself into Mount Rushmore” Martha added

Tom nodded, “Well, best to keep down.” He warned them both, “Here we go. The entire south coast of England, converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labour every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for the metal. Building a fleet of rockets out of scrap.”

“You should see Russia.” Martha looked out on the ships and shook her head, “That’s Shipyard Number One. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait.”

“Chan, there is a hundred thousand rockets getting ready for war, tho”

“War?” Tom asked, “With who?”

“The rest of the universe.” Martha answered him, “I’ve been out there, Tom, in space, before all this happened, and there’s a thousand different civilisations all around us with no idea of what’s happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all.”

“You’ve been in space?” Tom asked with wide eyes, causing Martha and Chantho to exchange a look

“Chan, you can see me, tho?” Chantho asked him, “Chan, I am not one of your own kind, tho”

“No, no I know that” Tom explained quickly, “It’s just- no one really knows where you came from, there’s stories of course but, er, wow… anything else I should know?”

Smirking, Martha decided to really blow his mind, “I’ve met Shakespeare.” Unfortunately her fun was brought to a quick end as two Toclafane descended upon them from behind the statue

“Identify, little man.” One of them ordered

“I’ve got a licence. Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad.” Tom blinked rapidly as he tried to come up with an explanation for his two traveling companions, “I’m allowed to travel. I was just checking for-“

The second Toclafane interrupted him, “Soon the rockets will fly, and everyone will need medicine. You’ll be so busy.” And then they both flew away laughing

Frowning through his relief, Tom looked back and forth between the two living legends, “But they didn’t see you.”

“How do you think I travelled the world?” Martha asked, touching her Tardis Key as Chantho did the same, she started explaining as Tom helped them into his van but she could tell he wasn’t really following, “Because the Master set up Archangel, that mobile network, fifteen satellites around the planet, but really it’s transmitting this low level psychic field. That’s how everyone got hypnotised into thinking he was Harold Saxon.”

“Saxon.” Tom sighed, “Feels like years ago.”

“Chan, but the keys are tuned into the same frequency, tho” Chantho explained

“Makes me sort of… not invisible, just unnoticeable.” Martha told him

“Well, I can see you.” Tom argued

Martha smiled, “That’s because you wanted to.”

“Yeah, I suppose I did.” Tom returned the smile tenfold, his hero worship coming off a bit strong

Martha ignored the knowing look Chantho was giving her and asked, “Is there a Mrs Milligan?”

“No. No. What about you?”

Thinking about The Doctor, Martha shrugged, “There used to be someone a long time ago” she couldn’t afford to get distracted, not now when their plan was almost complete, “Come on, we’ve got to find this Docherty woman.”

“We’ll have to wait until the next work shift” Tom asked, “What time is it now?”

“It’s nearly three o’clock.”


	35. Earth Marches to War

Ianto appeared in the hub silently and nearly threw up on his shoes, he didn’t know how Jack could stand using this as a valid mode of transportation and could only hope he would never be forced to grow accustomed to it himself. The Vortex Manipulator was only slightly more bearable than riding aboard a plane, and that was saying something. Still, there was no time to sit and whine about feeling sick, he had a list of devices Tosh needed from the archives to further investigate his condition. 

If he was quick he could be finished before the hour was up, the sooner this got sorted the better, he was sick and tired of feeling like a ticking time bomb. Was it so bad he wanted to hug his partner without feeling like he would pass out from the pain? Maybe this was the universes way of punishing him for something, he didn’t know what. Perhaps he’d committed some great misdeed in a past life, it was that or the universe hated him. He wasn’t sure which he would prefer.

The Archives were thankfully still sealed off, whatever Toshiko had done to the place had kept the entire hub locked up tight, nothing had come in or out since they fled all those months ago and Ianto found the layer of dust and cobwebs almost soothing in a way he wasn’t used to. It was a testament to his mental state that he felt calm surrounded by such a heavy layer of dust as apposed to his usual reaction which would have been to locate the closest feather duster and immediately set to work. 

He had to smile at the thought as he lumped another device into his rucksack, the last time he’d had the feather duster out Jack was all too eager to help him, after that he’d taken to hiding it when not in use. Jack caused more mess when trying to clean than he did leaving it well alone.

Gathering everything and taken longer than Ianto had hoped, by the time he had everything on the list Tosh had given him it was dark out, still that didn’t matter as he’d be teleporting out anyway. No need to worry about tripping over something in the dark. Jack had set the return coordinates for him so all Ianto had to do was push the right button which was easy enough since there were really only two to choose from anyway.

When he activated the wrist strap and found himself landed in a tiny dark room however, gulping down lung full after lung full of musty air greedily, he did have to wonder if Jack had made it more easy than it seemed.

-

Martha and Chantho stuck close together as Tom led them deep inside the Bexley slave quarters, they had to stick to the plan and let everyone think they wouldn’t make a move until morning, if Docherty was as predictable as they thought though, they would be moving onto the last phase soon enough. Hopefully she would use the information they had given her and act fast.

“This way” Tom walked stealthily in the shadows and rapped his knuckles in quick succession against a seemingly random door.

Martha peered around his shoulder when the door opened and saw the place was jam packed with people, “Did you bring food?” The woman who answered the door asked with pleading eyes

“Couldn’t get any, and I’m starving.” Tom squeezed inside after Chantho and Martha, closing the door soundly behind himself

“All we’ve got is water.” The woman shook her head, gesturing to the half empty tank at the end of the hallway

It was like this almost everywhere they went but it never got any easier taking advantage of peoples kindness, Chantho and Martha had to remind themselves they only took what they needed and it was for a good cause, hopefully by tomorrow everything would be back to normal, they had to trust in The Doctors plan, “Chan, we are sorry, tho”

“It’s cheaper than building barracks.” Tom whispered when the woman wondered off to deal with a commotion in the next room, “Pack them in, a hundred in each house, ferry them off to the shipyards every morning.”

“What’s going on?” Martha frowned at the ruckus coming from the other room and felt her jaw hit the floor when none other than Ianto flipping Jones was forcibly pushed through the doorway by the woman who had let them inside

“Martha?” He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see him, “Martha Jones?”

“Ianto?” She smiled through her confusion as Chantho explained to the woman that Ianto was a friend not foe, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I have no idea” he looked around almost in a daze, “Where _are_ we?”

-

Jack worried his lip as he paced back and forth Toshiko’s lab, his lover should be back by now, what if something had happened to him and he wasn’t there to protect him? What if the master had somehow got his claws back into him? What if he’d tripped in the archives and cracked his head open and Jack was just sat in Tosh’s lab completely useless while the love of his life slowly bled to death all alone and-

“Jack, pacing isn’t going to help” Tosh rubbed her eyes and didn’t bother to muffle a yawn as Beth ran a hand through her hair, “All your doing is making me dizzy”

“I can’t just sit there” Jack argued

“And how is pacing helping Ianto?” Tosh raised an eyebrow, “The list I gave him was pretty long, we don’t need to worry”

Beth smiled and rested her head on Toshiko’s shoulder, “Yeah, I mean what’s the worst that could happen?”

Beth had asked the wrong question.

“What could happen? _What could happen?!_ ” Jack let loose, “Ianto could have fallen down the stairs in the dark and broken his legs, he could have accidentally activated some alien tech and turned himself into a kitten, he could have been ambushed by Toclafane, he could have used the wrong coordinates and launched himself into deep space or the centre of the sun, he could have gotten distracted and walked into the water fountain and drowned, he could have tried to make himself a coffee and poisoned himself, he could-”

“We get the picture Jack” Tosh sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, “But this is Ianto we’re talking about, he’ll be careful”

Jack took a deep breath and looked off to the side, trying to stay calm, “Sometimes careful isn’t enough”

-

Ianto blinked rapidly and fought the urge to panic as he found himself contained in a small dark room, for a split second he was back aboard the Valiant, shackled up and in unspeakable pain but then he came back to himself and forced rational thoughts through his brain. He wasn’t in shackles, he wasn’t on the Valiant. So where was he?

A door previously unseen in front of him was flung open and Ianto barely had time to think before hands were grabbing at him and hauling him face first into a wall, “Intruder!” Someone shouted

The next few seconds happened too fast for him to process, he went from being pinned to the wall by touch hands to tripping through a crowded doorway and finally finding himself face to face with a woman he recognised to be Martha Jones and her blue traveling companion, “Martha?” What the hell was going on, “Martha Jones?” This was surreal

“Ianto?” She smiled at him but Ianto could see it didn’t reach her eyes, “What the hell are you doing here?”

He didn’t even know where here was, “I have no idea,” he glanced around the house, feeling claustrophobic with everyone packed around him, “Where _are_ we?”

“Chan, Bexley, tho” Chantho answered him, “Chan, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, tho”

“Likewise, we’ve all heard the stories” Ianto figured he could have accidentally ended up in worse places, “Gwen speaks highly of you both” was it the right time to exchange pleasantries? Maybe he should be more focused on why Jack’s wrist strap had brought him here instead of to Toshiko like it had been set to do. 

“Likewise” Martha copied him before a young boy tugged on the hem of her jeans to get her attention

He looked up at her with wide eyes and she immediately forgave the interruption, “Are you Martha Jones?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

He looked over at Chantho, “And she’s your BlueLady? Can you both do it? Can you kill him?” The little boy could be no older than Steven and Ianto felt his gut twist uncomfortably at the thought of his nephew- (grandchild?) even his family tree was complicated, “They said you can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it. Please, tell us you can do it.” The boy pleaded

“Come on, just leave them alone.” Tom interrupted, “They’re exhausted”

“Chan, it is okay, tho” Chantho knelt down she so was at the same height as the young boy and smiled when he didn’t flinch away in fear, “Chan, we will talk, tho”

Ianto was just as enraptured as the rest of the house when Martha and Chantho started their story, of course he’d heard bits and pieces. Snippets of their adventures and reports of their victories that had pissed The Master off to no end, but to hear it in person was another thing entirely. It was like a bedtime story and an ancient legend wrapped up in one.

“We travelled across the world, from the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe.” Martha had her audience completely enthralled, “And everywhere we went, we saw people just like you, living as slaves.”

“Chan, but we are no legends, tho” Chantho told them, “Chan, we are not as important as our story is, tho”

Martha slid an arm around Chantho’s shoulders and continued, “There’s someone else. The man who sent us out there. The man who told us to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But we’ve seen him.” Martha licked her lips, “We know him and we know what he can do.”

Ianto was hanging onto every word and startled when the woman who had been trying to throw him out of the house started panicking, “It’s him! It’s him! Oh my God, it’s him! It’s the Master. He’s here.”

“Shit” Ianto hissed under his breath, this wasn’t good. He couldn’t get Jack’s wrist strap to work either so it looked like he was stuck here, he couldn’t go back there, he’d rather die than become The Masters play thing once more

“But he never comes to Earth” the boy had tears in his eyes and Ianto couldn’t blame him, if he had any water left in his body he’d be crying too, “He never walks upon the ground”

“Hide them!” Someone cried out and Ianto couldn’t help but feel betrayed that Chantho and Martha were offered safety while he’d been three seconds away from being thrown out onto the street if they hadn’t intervened on his behalf.

Martha and Chantho huddled under an old sack and Ianto ducked behind a stack of boxes, praying against all odds that he would be left alone. Outside, The Master was accompanied by armed guards and several Toclafane, his voice could be heard through the door that Tom was guarding with his gun, “Martha. Martha Jones. I can see you!” He taunted, “And my precious little Bug, not so loyal now are you Chantho? Out you come, little girls, come and meet your master.”

Ianto shivered as he hid, he knew he was being a coward but he was sick and tired of being the hero. Why should he lay down his life, he’d risked it so many times already and dammit he wanted to keep it. He wanted to grow old with the man he loves, he wanted to spend lazy Sunday mornings in bed when all he had to worry about was what he was going to cook for dinner that night. Why was his life always centred around survival and hiding? All he wanted to do was live and love freely, and if hiding made him a coward then so be it. He’d hide from the world if that meant he could have his happily ever after with Jack.

“Anybody? Nobody?” The Master span around on the street, looking from door to door, “No? Nothing?” he grew tired of his game and gave his orders, “Positions.” His guards jumped to attention, “I’ll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself, what would the Doctor do?”

Martha shared a Look with Chantho, one significant to require a capital letter, before they both slipped the Tardis keys off from around their necks and walked outside with raised hands. Ianto watched with wide eyes, his sense of right and wrong screaming at him as he let them slip away without offering them help.

“Oh, yes” The Master was practically preening, “Oh, very well done. Good girls. He trained you well.” Ianto watched as Tom clenched his jaw and prayed the man wasn’t about to do something stupid, “Bag.” The Master demanded, “Give me the bag -No, stay there, just throw it”

Martha threw her backpack towards The Master and Ianto heard the tell tale sound of his laser screwdriver destroying it but that’s not what he was focused on. Tom had his hand on the door and looked ready to bolt outside at any second, “And now, good companions, your work is done”

Ianto watched as Tom ripped the door open and was on his feet before he knew it. He thought he could do it, be selfish and chose to live but when faced with the choice Ianto couldn’t sit back and let a civilian get killed when there was a chance he could save them. Tom was pushed back inside the house as Ianto took his place, running out onto the street ready to sacrifice himself for Martha and Chantho. His only regret that he didn’t get to kiss Jack one last time, he hoped his lover could forgive him for this.

“Don’t move!” The Master shouted, aiming his screwdriver at Ianto now instead. It took him a second before he recognised who had come to the women’s aid but when he did Ianto would be haunted by the smile that graced his lips, “Ianto Jones, my my, Christmas must have come early this year” he lowered the screwdriver with a maniacal laugh, “I should kill you three right where you stand... but when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?” Ianto felt Martha grab his hand and swallowed down the fear that was slowly crawling up his throat, squeezing her hand back tightly, “Almost dawn, and planet Earth marches to war.”


	36. Two Bullets

Gwen sat nervously fiddling with her hair when Wilkinson, Abbot and Rayner finally joined her in command central, a fancy name for a small room with a radio and a beat up black and white telly they got working a few weeks ago, “Any news from Thomson yet? He was support to report yesterday” it wasn’t uncommon for him to be late every once in a while but with Ianto and Stevens recent escape she was worried about the other mans safety aboard the Valiant. What if The Master suspected him of feeding them information? He could be compromised.

“Actually,” Rayner walked over to the small television set up in the corner, careful not to nick himself on the cracked screen as he fiddled with the controls, “He managed to send us a short message over the radio, said there was a transmission coming through any minute now”

Unsure if this was good or bad news, Gwen nodded and took her seat, “Very well, let’s hope Nightingale and her BlueLady know what they’re doing”

Meanwhile across the globe Owen was holding onto Dianne and Steven tightly as their own TV flickered to life, it wasn’t often The Master demanded an audience and they knew better than to hope for good news. Nathan was asleep in his makeshift crib next to them as they all huddled around the screen, their room packed with other survivors all waiting to hear what The Master had to say.

The Master looked as smart as ever, wearing a pressed suit and an evil smile as he spoke to his subjects worldwide, “Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe”

“Oh my god” Jack clutched Toshiko’s arm tightly as he too watched with horror as Ianto was paraded in front of him in shackles along with Martha and Chantho, “Ianto”

-

Ianto had thrown up four times during the flight back to the Valiant, twice on himself and twice on the floor. His clothes were soiled, his mind was a mess and his dignity was in tatters. Nothing new there then. Martha and Chantho had tried to comfort him but Ianto knew his death was imminent, he was only sad he never got to say a proper goodbye to Jack, his lover deserved that much.

“Everything will be alright Ianto,” Martha was rubbing his back as his stomach spasmed again, too empty to even produce bile at this point, “You just need to keep calm”

“Chan, take deep breaths, tho” Chantho whispered as they finally landed, receiving a harsh kick as one of their captors walked by

“Silence filth, we didn’t give you permission to talk” the soldier sneered and Martha was ready to rip his face off when she was manhandled off the plane and unceremoniously dragged towards the main flight deck where her audiences awaited.

Chantho felt sick as she came face to face with The Master once more, the man with a new face who had killed her professor. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had seen him smile properly, her professor used to be able to make her feel safe and warm with a mere quirk of his lips but as she let her gaze rest upon the man now she felt nothing but fear and hatred. This man wasn’t her professor and she couldn’t allow him to tarnish the memory of the soft, caring man she had known and loved any longer.

“Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe” The Master pointed at Ianto, “Your teleport device, in case you thought I’d forgotten”

Ianto’s hand shot out to cover Jacks wrist strap automatically and with barely a glance at the camera he knew was broadcasting out to the world, he shook his head, “You’ll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands” if he couldn’t die in the arms of the man he loved, he would die clinging onto he only thing he had left of him

“That can be arranged” The Master sneered as three of his Toclafane appeared by his shoulders

Martha stepped in and tore the strap from his wrist, “Don’t be an idiot” she hissed as Ianto struggled, normally he’d put up more of a fight but he still felt incredibly weak and couldn’t maintain his defence for long before he ultimately lost. 

Martha stole Jack’s wrist strap and threw it at The Masters feet, it was only Chantho’s arms around him that kept Ianto from diving after it, “Chan, you need to calm down, tho”

“Listen to the bug Mr Jones and kneel before your Master. Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe.”

Ianto looked around the flight deck for any chance of escape and saw none, not a single route he could take that would lead him to safety, Martha’s family were held captive over on the far side of the room and even The Doctor was incapacitated at this point. This really was the end wasn’t it? He had survived so much to just end here, what had been the point? He may as well have died from blood loss back in that trench after being shot in the leg, it would have been less painful than whatever The Master had cooked up for him that’s for sure.

“Are we ready?” The Master asked

“The fleet awaits your signal.” A voice came over the tannoy, “Rejoice!”

The Master clapped his hands together with a manic grin, “Three minutes to align the black hole converters, counting down.” He turned his attention towards one of the spheres hovering to his right, “I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?”

“We will fly and blaze and slice.” The Toclafane chanted, “We will fly and blaze and slice” Ianto shivered at the childlike voices, they would surely haunt his nightmares if he were to survive this 

“At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones, will die. My first blood” The Master taunted, “Any last words? No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex, this one’s useless.” He ordered, “Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward-” he stopped as Martha and Chantho started giggling, _giggling_ , at him, “What? What’s so funny?!” He demanded

Martha and Chantho stifled their laughter and Ianto thought they must have finally lost it, “A gun” was all Martha said 

“What about it?” The Master glared at them both

Chantho actually had the guts to roll her eyes and Ianto couldn’t decide if she was the bravest person he had ever met or completely insane, “Chan, a gun in four parts, tho?” 

The Master didn’t understand, “Yes, and I destroyed it.”

“A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?” Martha smirked, looking up at him defiantly from where she was forced to kneel

“What do you mean?” The Master was close to throwing a fit and Ianto flinched as he stomped his foot, he’d been on the receiving end of the monsters rage before and he wasn’t keen to repeat the experience.

“As if I would ask her to kill.” The Doctor finally spoke from his cage

“Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’ve got them exactly where I want them.” The Master’s glare intensified as Martha and Chantho got back on their feet

“Chan but we knew what Professor Docherty would do, the Resistance knew about her son tho”

They had known all along that Docherty would sell them out, had planned on it even. Without her none of this would have been possible, “We told her about the gun, so she’d get us here at the right time”

The Master still didn’t see and to be honest neither did anyone else, “Oh, but you’re still going to die”

“Don’t you want to know what we were doing, travelling the world?” Martha turned the taunting back on him and The Master didn’t like it one bit

“Tell me.”

“We told a story, that’s all. No weapons, just words. We did just what the Doctor said. We went across the continents all on our own. And everywhere we went, we found the people, and we told them our story.”

“Chan, we told them about the Doctor, tho” Chantho tilted her chin up in defiance and grabbed Martha’s hand in her own

Squeezing Chantho’s hand, Martha continued, “And we told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor.”

“Faith and hope? Is that all?” The Master sneered

“No, because we gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said.” Martha squared her shoulders as she remembered The Doctors words, the words that had gotten her through the last year of her life, ‘Use the countdown’

“Chan we told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time-”

“Nothing will happen. Is that your weapon?” He scoffed, “Prayer?”

Martha continued relentlessly, “Right across the world, one word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites.”

“What?” The Master asked but for Ianto it all finally clicked

“The Archangel Network.” He looked up at the women standing next to him and slowly got to his feet too, “That’s brilliant”

“A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time” Martha smiled, “And that word is _Doctor._ ”

All around the world people closed their eyes and looked up to the sky, sharing one thought, one voice unanimously. Owen and Dianne clutched at each other whispering, _‘Doctor’_ Toshiko and Beth held hands with Jack and prayed, _‘Doctor’_ Gwen and her team all sat huddled around the battered TV set and chanted, _‘Doctor’._

The countdown reached zero and The Doctor started to glow, “Stop it.” The Master shouted, “No, no, no, no, you don’t!”

Ianto followed Martha and Chantho’s lead, “Doctor, Doctor” as did Francine and the rest of the Jones family. All the world was crying out together and as horrifying as the situation was, Ianto also thought it was beautiful, the whole world united and working together, it was something he never thought he would ever live to see.

“Stop this right now. Stop it!” The Master knew he was losing as even his own wife joined the ranks of those looking to usurp him.

The Doctor burst from his cage and turned back into his younger looking self, hovering in the air as he advanced on The Master, “I’ve had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices.”

“I order you to stop!” The Master scrambled back in fear as everyone carried on chanting

“The one thing you can’t do. Stop them thinking.” The Doctor backed him into a corner, “Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this.” He extended his arms out and displayed the power running through his very veins

Martha and Chantho ran for cover with the rest of the Jones family, dragging a shellshocked Ianto along with them as The Master continue to fight The Doctor, “No!” He fired his laser screwdriver at him but the energy field deflected the blast easily, leaving The Doctor unharmed

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The Doctor apologised

“Then I’ll kill them!” The Master went to point his screwdriver at the Jones family but The Doctor had other ideas, stretching out his hand and tearing the device from The Masters grasp with a flick of his wrist,“You can’t do this. You can’t do it. It’s not fair!” The Master shouted

“And you know what happens now” The Doctor crept closer and Ianto finally thought the monster was about to get what he deserved

“No! No! No! No!” The Master curled up in a ball and covered his head with his hands

“You wouldn’t listen,” he carried on over The Masters pleas, “because you know what I’m going to say”

“No” The master flinched as The Doctor wrapped his arms around him and then came the ultimate insult to planet Earth.

The Doctor embraced the monster and murmured almost lovingly to him, “I forgive you”

Ianto could hardly believe his ears, The Doctor forgave him? _Forgave-_ Hang on, how could this man, this becon of hope, the man Jack had been waiting on for over a century, forgive the monster who had slaughtered millions? It wasn’t even his place to forgive him, was it his planet The Master had destroyed? Was it his people who had been brutally murdered? Tortured? No, it wasn’t, how dare The Doctor offer forgiveness that was not his to give?

“I’ll kill him” Ianto snarled under his breath, only Chantho heard him but she didn’t disagree with the statement

“My children!” The Master cried out and his Toclafane zipped about, promising to protect the paradox

“Martha, the paradox machine!” The Doctor shouted and Martha was on it

“You men, with me!” She singled Thompson out, her informant on the inside and turned to Chantho and Ianto, “You two stay here”

Out of the corner of his eye Ianto saw The Master make a grab for Jack’s wrist strap and dived for it as well but he was too late, The Doctor and The Master disappeared in a flash before he could reach them, “No!” He shouted, kicking the table in his rage but all that managed to do was hurt his foot, “For gods sake” he snapped, swaying on his feet as he tired to get a grip, “Chantho what’s the paradox machine?”

He never got a reply though as one of the soldiers by the controls interrupted, “We’ve all six billion spheres heading right for us.” Ianto recognised him as one of the guards who took pleasure in beating him to a pulp more than once during his time captive aboard this ship and so didn’t feel so sorry when he saw just how terrified the man was. Not so big and strong now his Master was gone, was he?

Meanwhile Martha led the charge towards the Tardis and managed to slip through the battle and aboard the ship with only hand handful of cuts that weren’t that deep. Using a gun she’d taken off one of The Masters men, she took aim and fired at the Paradox machine. It was time to end this.

Ianto had picked up a gun of his own and was ready to fight the incoming Toclafane when he whole ship started shaking, papers were flying everywhere and he got thrown into the table ribs first. If he hadn’t of been severely winded he would have launched himself at The Master when he and The Doctor reappeared and killed the man with his bare hands but as it was he couldn’t so much as lift a finger from where he was curled up struggling to breath on the floor.

“Everyone get down! Time is reversing!” The Doctor shouted

The Master flung himself away form The Doctor and hung onto some railings as the winds of time itself whipped through the air, creating havoc and panic on the ground until finally the rockets and statues disappeared, along with all the people. Everything went back to the way it was.

The Doctor got to his feet and rushed to look out one of the windows to make sure everything had gone to plan, “The paradox is broken. We’ve reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning.”

“What?” Ianto looked around but there was no sign of Jack, his lover should be here right?

A radio sounded from the control boards, _“This is UNIT Central. What’s happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated.”_

“Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived.” The Doctor had the audacity to smile, “Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was.”

“Chan, what about the spheres tho?”

“Trapped at the end of the universe” The Doctor assured her

“But I can remember it.” Ianto climbed to his feet and stared hard at The Doctor

“We’re at the eye of the storm. The only ones who’ll ever know” He looked Ianto up and down, “Oh, hello. You must be Mister Jones. We haven’t actually met.”

The Master made a break for it but Ianto caught him by the scruff of his neck as he ran by, taking great pleasure in slamming him against the wall, he would have done more if Martha hadn’t chosen than exact moment to come running in and relieve him of his prisoner, “I’ve got him Ianto” she must have seen the murder in his glare as she pushed him away but Ianto didn’t care, never before in his life had he wanted to hurt someone as much as he did The Master and that was saying something, he fought against the Nazi’s after all.

“What are we going to do with him?” Ianto felt his lips curl into a snarl but he didn’t give a damn, this monster was the reason for so much suffering

“We kill him.” Martha’s dad suggested

Tish, her sister, agreed, “We execute him.”

The Doctor didn’t even spare them a glance as he focused all his attention on The Master, “No, that’s not the solution.”

“Bollocks to that” Ianto surprised even himself as he stepped forward, “This isn’t your decision to make Doctor, this isn’t your planet he destroyed-”

“Your planet is fine” The Doctor interrupted him, “Time has rewound, none of it ever happened”

“I remember it” Ianto grit out between his teeth, furious, “I remember ever single second of it, the faces of the people his spheres killed right in front of me, the sound of a whole country screaming out in pain as he burnt it to the ground. I remember it so it happened Doctor, no amount of turning back the clock is going to change that”

“Go on then, kill me” The Master spat

“It would be my pleasure” Ianto snarled back, “I promised after all” he tortured Jack, he starved Steven, he tired to destroy the entire world

“Ianto, you’re better than him.” The Doctor kicked the gun by his feet away for good measure before Ianto could pick it up

“Don’t” Ianto warned The Doctor, mind games wouldn’t work on him

“He’s my responsibility from now on.” The Doctor tried again, “The only Time Lord left in existence”

Ianto glared at him, “You can’t trust him”

“No.” The Doctor agreed, “The only safe place for him is the Tardis”

“The only safe- you want to keep him _safe_ after everything that he’s done?” Ianto shouted, “After everything he-”

A gunshot rang out and The Master fell to the ground with a cry, clutching his arm as it bled furiously, “Chantho!” The Doctor rushed to The Master’s side, “Stop it, you don’t want to do this”

“I do” for once Chantho abandoned her manners, why bother being polite when talking to a monster, another shot rang out and this time she didn’t miss, shooting him in one of his hearts before a soldier managed to disarm her

Ianto felt sick as he watched The Doctor cradle The Master almost lovingly in his arms, “There you go. I’ve got you. I’ve got you”

“Always the women” The Master joked

The Doctor was close to tears, “I didn’t see her”

“Dying in your arms. Happy now?” He asked

The Doctor gave him a little shake, “You’re not dying. Don’t be stupid. It’s only a bullet. Just regenerate”

“No.” The Master shook his head and Ianto thought that might be the only good decision he ever made

“Two little bullets.” The Doctor shook him harder, “Come on.” 

“I guess you don’t know me so well. I refuse” The Master took great delight in watching The Doctor crumble in front of him

Begging, The Doctor felt tears pool in his eyes, “Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on.”

“And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?” The Master scoffed as he bled out

The Doctor held him closer, “You’ve got to. Come on. It can’t end like this. You and me, all the things we’ve done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We’re the only two left. There’s no one else. Regenerate!”

“How about that. I win.” He blinked rapidly, “Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?”

Martha had to look away as The Doctor cried, holding the body of his dead friend, she allowed him time to mourn and started with the clean up, “Chantho?” It was probably best to get her out of The Doctors sight for a while, “We need to get you out of here”

“Chan, but where will I go, tho?” She asked

The hell if Martha knew, “Torchwood” Ianto interrupted, staggering towards them with glassy eyes, “Find Jack back in Cardiff,” he had to be there since he wasn’t on the ship, “and tell him you’re a friend of The Doctor, he’ll look after you”

“Ianto are you alright?” Martha put a hand on his shoulder but quickly moved to catch him as he collapsed, “Ianto?!” He was out cold, shivering and twitching, “We should get him to the Tardis” Martha decided, The Doctor kept a few medical supplies on board she could use to figure out what was wrong with him, she owed him that much at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left now! And the reveal of what the frack is up with Ianto, it’s about time don’t you think?


	37. Subtle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are at the last chapter, I already know this is a bit of a stretch full of questionable times-whimey science, I get it okay just go with it. I swear this stuff makes sense in my mind, hope you enjoy it!

Gwen had just watched Saxon assassinate the American president and gaped as the news feed cut out, “Oh my god” she knew Ianto was wary of the prime minister but not even he could have predicted this, “Ianto, what do we do?” She whispered but he didn’t respond, “Ianto?” She turned around and saw the seat he had been occupying was now empty

“Where did they go?” Smith looked around for Thompson, “Agent Jones and Thompson are gone”

“They just vanished into thin air” Rayner frowned and Gwen felt dread settle in the bottom of her stomach, had the rift taken Ianto again? How the hell was she meant to explain this to the team back home?

Forcing herself to stay calm, Gwen ordered the men to pack up, they were going back home right now. Fuck Saxon and his damn mission, Ianto had been right this was just a distraction to get them out of Cardiff, thank god they left Owen and Tosh behind to deal with this, “Come on, we’re moving out” hopefully Tosh and Owen would have some idea as to where Ianto and Thompson disappeared off to, if not Jack was going to throw a bitch fit when he got back.

-

Jack opened his eyes slowly and stared at the white ceiling above him in confusion, where was he? Why did his head hurt so much and where the hell was The Doctor? He winced as he sat up and took his first look around the room, he wasn’t the only one waking up wherever he was by the looks of it. Around him sat around twenty other people, men and women he faintly recognised as Saxons staff but if he was with them then that meant he was aboard the Valiant still.

“What happened?” A woman to his left was clutching her head, “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck”

He didn’t answer her, instead Jack got to his feet and made his way unsteadily towards the door as he took stock of himself. All limbs and organs accounted for, he had to wonder what had happened, he didn’t feel as if he’d died but then why-

Wind blew into the room as Jack opened the door and the achingly familiar sound of gears groaning together whirled through the air, haunting music to his ears, “No” he was running before he knew what was happening, bursting into one of the disused engine rooms just as the Tardis winked out of existence.

The Doctor had done it again, left him behind with no answers, stranded and alone with no idea what to do next.

-

Ianto had never been a fan of the dark as a child, he’d kept a candle in his room for years before his parents had put their foot down and told him he needed to grow up. Lisa had begrudgingly agreed with them that it was silly for a young man of 18 to be afraid of the dark, it wasn’t as if monsters were real after all. So that candle had gone and he’d eventually grown used to it. 

Then he’d met Jack, the war had taken over and the darkness had become a protection of sorts, a security blanket he could use to hide behind when he didn’t feel his best. The darkness he had once feared had become his shield even after the war had ended.

Now though, after The Master had used the darkness as a punishment Ianto sorely missed the light. He wasn’t sure if he was dreaming, or if he was even alive at this point but he was surrounded by darkness. The last thing he could remember was collapsing in front of Martha and Chantho, everything after that was either blank or too fuzzy to make out.

He could distantly hear someone calling his name but it wasn’t Jack so Ianto didn’t bother opening his eyes. He just wanted Jack to come and make everything better, he was good at that.

But he didn’t want to linger in the darkness either so he focused all the energy he had left into opening his eyes, “J’cks’n?” He reached out blindly with one arm, wishing more than anything for Jack to come and give him a fucking hug, he felt as if he was going to burst out into tears at any moment and as far as Ianto was concerned there were only two safe places to cry in the world, a locked bathroom or on Jack’s shoulder and seeing as he had no access to a bathroom right now he really needed Jack.

But it wasn’t Jack hand that slid into his own, “Hey,” it was Martha who tilted his head gently in her direction so she could check his eyes, “You really with us this time?”

This time? Where the hell was he? Nothing made sense and he couldn’t really see clearly, “Martha?” He knew he sounded like an idiot but he didn’t understand what was going on, he _hated_ not knowing things, “Where am I?”

“You’re onboard the Tardis” Martha squeezed his hand softly as she spoke to keep his attention, “You collapsed on the Valiant so Chantho and I brought you back here to try and figure out what was wrong with you”

“What was wrong with me” Ianto picked up on the past tense, “So I’m okay now?”

“Well…”

That didn’t sound promising, “Exactly how long was I out?” Ianto blinked a couple of times to clear his vision and thankfully everything came into focus, his voice felt rough from disuse and his muscles were stiff, not a good sign

Martha ran a hand through her hair nervously, “Four days, give or take a few hours”

“Oh” he wasn’t sure what he was expecting but that sounded like a long time, maybe even a new record for him, “And how’s Jack? Have you heard from him and everyone else?”

Martha rolled her eyes, trust him to be more concerned about everyone else, “Everyone should be fine, time reversed so the year never happened for them, everything’s back to normal”

“Don’t kid yourself” Ianto shifted uncomfortably in the bed he’d woken up in, “Since when has anything to do with The Doctor ever been normal? I’ve read his files, he’s a walking ball of chaos”

“That he is” Martha agreed with a chuckle before turning serious, “I should probably let him know you’re awake, he has a lot to tell you”

“Okay” Ianto drew the word out but raised a hand to stop her from leaving right away, “And Chantho? Is she alright?” He didn’t think The Doctor was a violent man but Chantho had killed his psychotic excuse of a friend

“She’s fine” Martha smiled for real this time, “Hiding out at my parents until I get back, we talked about it and she wants to stay on Earth”

“You’ll have to get Jack to outfit her with a portable perception filter, I know Tosh had been working on some before everything…”

Martha squeezed his arm, “I know, I’m going to get The Doctor for you. The two of you have a lot to discuss”

-

Tosh and Owen were waiting anxiously for Gwen, they didn’t have any good news for her about Ianto disappearance but hopefully if they were all together they could come up with something. They weren’t about to let Ianto slip away, even If Jack wouldn’t have their heads for letting it happen, Ianto meant too much to them to let him go without a fight. 

He was Torchwood, he was one of their own, family, “Trust him to get lost, I’m failing to understand why Jack likes him so much, he keeps you on your toes” Owen grumbled as they waited for Gwen

“We’ll find him,” Tosh promised, “He’s got a good track record of finding his way back here by himself anyway, we probably won’t even need to give him any help”

“Don’t jinx it” Owen warned her as the cog door wheeled open, “Gwen, you took your time”

“Oh piss off Owen, I had to change flights three times. The private plane disappeared” Gwen had her hair tied back and a look of determination etched onto her features, “Have we got any leads yet? Anything to help us find Ianto?”

Tosh beckoned her and Owen over to her computer and explained the multiple tabs showing various information to them, “I’ve been analysing the readings you managed to collect from after he and that UNIT soldier disappeared but I haven’t found anything concrete yet, there was a small build up of Artron energy but apart from that there’s no sign of anything abnormal”

“So it wasn’t the rift?” Gwen checked, that would be a first

“Not as far as we’re aware” Owen crossed his arms as he pointed at the screen, the three of them so absorbed in their work they didn’t hear the invisible lift start to descend, “But Tosh thinks we can try and trace back this Artron stuff, with any luck we’ll be able to find Ianto in no time, he can’t have gone far”

“Ianto?” the three of them whipped around in shock as Jack stepped off the invisible lift looking a little worse for wear, his face was ashen and he looked ready to pass out, “Ianto’s missing?”

-

Ianto frowned at The Doctor, still feeling an enormous and intense amount of anger towards him, as the timelord entered the room he was being treated in, “You look terrible” and he wasn’t making it any easier to like him

“Thank you” Ianto replied curtly as Martha quickly left the room, “Though I think I’m in pretty good condition considering what your friend put me through”

“I’m not here to argue with you about him” The Doctor pinned Ianto with an angry look but the other man didn’t flinch away even as those twins storms burnt into him, he’d looked into far more dangerous ones after all, “You can’t possibly understand what it’s like to be the last of your kind, now I am once again alone”

“You’re right, it’s not as if I’ve ever had my entire world ripped away from me” Ianto barely refrained from rolling his eyes, he didn’t care if The Master was the only other timelord in the universe, he was glad he was dead, “Martha said you could tell me what was wrong with me?”

“Ah, yes that” The Doctor looked him up and down with a sniff, “You can thank your Captain for that, I didn’t notice at first. It’s subtle, unlike him. Tell me have you been repelled by him lately? This has to be fairly new, I would have noticed-”

“You’re not making any sense and my head hurts” Ianto interrupted him, “What has any of this got to do with Jack?”

The Doctor looked a little annoyed at being interrupted but explained regardless, “Jack is a fixed point in time, he can’t die because he has a piece of the time vortex inside of him.” Ianto didn’t let on how much this equally confused yet enlightened him, “He’s been like that for a long time, so long in fact that the piece of vortex inside him has formed it’s own sort of little bubble -a bubble of energy that is self sustaining inside of him until wham!” The Doctor waved his arms out, “A bit of it branches off into you, I have no idea how he did it, it shouldn’t be possible but that’s Jack for you” The Doctor shook his head and Ianto struggled to keep up, “It should be impossible, the time vortex theoretically should have imprinted on his DNA and stuck to that, it shouldn’t be able to skip host into someone new”

“I don’t understand” he admitted painfully, “What does that mean?”

The Doctor looked equally as confused as Ianto felt, as if it should be obvious which only made Ianto feel worse about the situation, “What? I just told you, Jack siphoned off some of his vortex energy into you” he said it as if it were simple

“So… I’m like him?” Ianto felt his entire reality start to crumble, he’d come to terms with Jack moving on from him a long time ago, at best he’d wished for Jack to become mortal not the other way around

“What? No of course not” The Doctor was giving him whiplash, “You’re not immortal, at least not yet anyway” Ianto was about ready to shake his answers out of the time lord and The Doctor must have sensed his intentions as he finally started talking sense, “You only have a tiny fragment of Jack’s energy inside of you and even then it wanted to return to Jack, it would have felt like a sort of prickly sensation whenever you were around him”

“Oh” Ianto mulled that over, “He thought it was some sick game The Master was playing” at least now he had an explanation for the strange feeling he’d been getting around Jack.

“Yes, well” The Doctor clearly didn’t want to talk about his dead friend and Ianto couldn’t blame him, “The energy was trying to forcefully return to Jack’s body, but now time has rewound he should have all his vortex energy back inside him, he never gave it to you in his timeline”

Ianto prompted him when he didn’t continue “So that means…?”

“That you’re stuck with this fragment, I’d take it back if I could but I can’t” The Doctor actually did look a little sorry about this, “Jack is an anomaly, he shouldn’t exist and neither should you. You both throw the entire universe out of balance”

“Yeah, that sounds like us” Ianto pinched the bridge of his nose, exhausted, “What happens now then?”

“I can’t let you go back to Cardiff just yet” The Doctor rocked on the balls of his feet, “The Vortex energy inside you and Jack would clash, even I’m not entirely sure what would happen so you’re going to have to stay onboard the Tardis until you stabilise, shouldn’t take long, a few weeks at most”

Pushing aside the fact that sounded like utter torture, Ianto asked, “But once the energy inside me has stabilised I can go back to Cardiff?” the ‘to Jack’ went unsaid but not unheard

“Yes” The Doctor tucked his hands into his trouser pockets to stop them waving around, “But whatever Jack did to give you this shard of energy, he can’t do it again. Either one of you could die if he did” as much as Jack felt wrong to him, he did care about the Captain and didn’t want to see him unnecessarily hurt, “Right, now that’s out of the way how do you feel about visiting a little market on Jupiters 107th moon? It’s lovely in around 900 years time”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah, that’s it :) Let me know what you think, any questions you have I’ll be happy to answer. As always criticism is welcome as long as it doesn't crush my soul! Part 4 will cover season 2 of the show but it won’t be for a while yet, I’ve got two other stories currently on the go that need my attention right now but rest assured you can expect part 4 sometime in the future.
> 
> Okay, that’s it thanks for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> Well, what do you guys think? Let me know in the comments! I’ll be posting every other day for this one so I’ll try not leave you with too many cliffhangers between posts :)


End file.
